Not Your Normal 9 to 5: Overtime
by Lennex
Summary: A new enemy threatens fedual Japan, but where did they come from? Why are they here? And more importantly, what effect will it have on the future? DBZxInyasha xover pt 2
1. Prolouge: Unwelcome Guests

AN: well here we are again!!! Yay, Time for a sequel. I hope you all like it. This is just the prologue but I hope to have chap 1 out soon. I actually outlined this story hooray!! Well here you go, read on and review if you like 

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He ran though the dense forest as fast as his legs would allow him. He sometimes ran on the ground and then jumped to the trees, bouncing from limb to limb, before dropping to the ground again, trying desperately to reach his destination and discourage any pursuit. Unfortunately, thanks to his new senses that he had learned to use almost 8 months ago, the young fox demon named Shippo knew pursuit was nipping at his heels. He could feel the energy signatures of two men following closely behind.

While his pursuers looked like men, his sense of smell, one of his keenest and oldest senses, told him they were not human. They smelled different, almost alien. He had smelled someone not of this world before, and while these were different smells, they had a similar base to them.

And if Shippo's sense of smell wasn't enough, his eyesight was perfect being a demon. And his eyes told him these people were not of this world. Even Kagome had never brought back such devices and weapons with her, and first hand knowledge of the future had shown Shippo that no such tech existed. This knowledge came from a different kind of gadget from the future.

A belt that allowed him and his friends who could not already pass through the Bone Eaters Well, the well that linked Kagome's future with his past, travel through it. He had been to the future many times due to these belts. The world was wondrous and new and it excited the young fox child to see everything there was to see.

Now there was nothing but terror. The battle that had ensued between his group of friends and these outsiders was fierce, but one sided. Shippo had evaded detection and watched as his friends fell prisoner to this new enemy and bided his time to try and rescue his friends. While watching their defeat was hard, watching their imprisonment was heartbreaking. Finally after a fierce cry from Inuyasha to retrieve help from his brother after hours of torture, the fox demon ran with tears in his eyes.

But his flight had not gone unnoticed. He took to the forest as fast as he could and started to leave illusions behind him to throw off the two following him. But they must have been able to detect power levels like he had learned how to because the illusions did nothing to deter them.

He had run for the area that they had last encountered Sesshomaru, Inuyasha's half brother, at first but then his mind had switched gears. This enemy was new and unfamiliar, but some of the ways they attacked he had seen before in his newest friend from the future. The man who had taught him to sense power signatures and to augment his own fox powers using his own body's energy. This is why he had changed direction and hurried towards the bone eaters well, and the hidden spot where they kept the three belts that allowed Sango, Miroku, and himself to travel the currents of time.

The thoughts of his friends brought a fresh wave of tears to his already swollen eyes, but he shook his head viscously. They were strong and could handle their situation for a bit longer, but if he wanted to help them, he had to put his childish nature aside and act the role of an adult.

He had already taken steps in that regard after their second future visitor had come into their lives. Lennex had taught him how to be a hero in the short week he spent in the past. And after he left Inuyasha had taught him even more. Whether it was because of his mind growing in maturity or a self conscious effort of his own, His body had aged a bit.

He was no longer the little fox cub he once was but now resembled an older child, not quite a teenager. He stood taller now and was unable to ride on the shoulders of his companions like he used to, but was still the smallest of the group. On his trips to the future he stood just a few inches shorter then Kagome's little brother, Souta.

He had learned so much going to the future from Lennex and his odd group of friends. They had passed on quite a few things to him. Simple things by their standards, but amazing things to him. And Inuyasha had taught him many things about what it was to be a true demon of honor and courage.

His reminiscence was cut short as a ball of energy whizzed by his head, splintering a tree in front of him and causing the towering giant to fall. He dodged the falling oak and picked up his speed. He knew they didn't know quite where he was or that shot would not have missed. It looked as if they had grown tired of chasing him and were trying to flush him out. He was almost there. He just had to last a little longer.

He pushed his body with a final surge of adrenaline and energy and the fox child burst from the forest line into the clearing of the well. He ran the edge of the clearing looking for the spot where they hid the capsule that stored the time belts. The capsule itself was coded to only open for the people of his group so they had embedded the capsule in a little hollow of one of the surrounding trees, courtesy of Inuyasha's claw. And then the piece of wood was stuffed back into the hole after being trimmed making the tree look unblemished. He quickly located the tree and bounded to it, pulling the piece of wood away and prying the capsule out of its hiding spot

He quickly hit the plunger on the top and dropped the capsule in front of him. With a popping noise, the capsule expanded into a small silver box. Shippo threw open the lid and pulled out the three belts, looping all of them around his shoulder and down along his body, bandolier style. He didn't need all three but he wasn't taking the chance of leaving the other two out in the open, and he didn't have the time to replace the capsule in its cove. He quickly ran towards the well, powering on one of the belts as he ran. He jumped the last little bit of the way and landed on the rim of the well.

"Hold it!" a voice shouted from the tree line. The two men that had been chasing him had bounded into the clearing, their silver armor reflecting the sunlight, making them look like they were glowing. The helmets they wore covered one eye with a screen of clear color and their right arms were adorned with a long tube that came to a point just above their wrist. Both arms were being raised to point at Shippo.

"Not another step further runt." One called out to him. Shippo glanced at them and then let gravity do the work as he fell forward into the well. He heard two sharp cracks and watched as two golden balls of energy impacted the well and blew right through the top. Splinters and chunks of charged wood fell down the well after Shippo, and the fox demon could see a charred half circle in the top of two of the well's formerly square sides and one whole corner missing; the corner he had been closest too. Finally as he fell, the nimbus of blue light that signaled the passage through time surrounded him and the view from above faded away into nothingness.

He had made it.

0-0-0-0-0

The two men stood above the well and peered down into the inky blackness. One kicked a still smoking piece of wood, breaking it off the once intact wooden structure and down to the bottom. The muffled clunk of the wood hitting the earth greeted their ears, but the fox was nowhere to be found. Their eye pieces cycled information across the clear crystal screen but showed no trace of their quarry.

They looked at each other as one pressed the side of his helmet, hitting a form fitted button that cleared the screen and took the device into communication mode.

"Unit 2 reporting in. Subject lost. Awaiting further orders."

The voice that responded could not be heard by the second man but by watching the first's face wince at the response, he knew his superiors were not happy with them. He walked over to the little silver box at the edge of the clearing and picked it up to bring back with them.

"Understood." The first man said and clicked the button on the helmet again. "We are to report back to the forward outpost and debrief there."

The second man nodded, and together they turned and started to retrace their steps back to their origin.


	2. Chapter 1: Up the Rabbit Hole

Shippo picked himself up off the ground and looked towards the top of the well. Instead of blue sky he was welcomed to the now familiar ceiling of the Higarashi shrine well house roof. It was a sure sign that he had made it to the future. Another sign invaded his nose as the smells of the future assaulted him. While the dust and wood of the structure wasn't all that bad, the smells from outside took some getting used to. The future was defiantly not as clean as his own time was.

He quickly shook his head to clear it. Now was not the time to be comparing trivial things. He had to get help and get it fast. He leapt to the top of the well and quickly went to the door. He carefully slid it open and looked around. He was told that demons did not roam the land as they once had, and that humans would react poorly to seeing one so caution was always necessary. There were only a few people about the shrine and the way to the main house was clear. He quickly opened the door and moved toward it. He noticed Kagome's grandfather going about his duties around the shrine but still continued towards the home. He did not feel like dealing with the man's hysterics because he was a demon, and the elderly man sought to exercise him with his powers, as any shrine priest would. The only difference was the man's scrolls didn't work and his holy power was non existent. The only thing that usually happened was a paper was slapped to his forehead and the words demon be gone were spoken loudly.

The old man never once let the failure of each banishing get to him and tried again and again, even though he knew he and Inuyasha were Kagome's friends. He reached the door and knocked three times in quick succession. The wait for the door to open was almost unbearable. Every minuet here cost his friends time. The door finally swung open and Shippo was face to face with a human boy a little taller then him, with a mop of brown hair and equally brown eyes. Eyes that widened in surprise at seeing the demon on his doorstep.

"Shippo, what are you doing here? Where is Kagome and brother Inuyasha?" the boy questioned looking past Shippo to see if maybe they were further behind him.

Shippo stepped forward, almost pushing his way into the home. "No time to talk Souta, I need to speak to your mother right away."

Kagome's brother must have heard the urgency in the young fox's words as he quickly stepped aside to let him and shouted for his mother. Mrs. Higarashi stepped from the kitchen doorway to see what her son was shouting about, a towel in one hand and a wet dish in the other. She looked with surprise at Shippo and like her son glanced around for his normal traveling companions. Before she had time to question their absence, Shippo spoke.

"I need your help. You have to take me to Capsule Corporation, it's an emergency. Inuyasha and the others are in trouble and I need help right away."

Mrs. Higarashi's eyes widened with alarm at the statement that her daughter was in trouble. "What happened?" she quickly asked.

Shippo shook his head "no time, we have to go now please. Ill tell you on the way."

The older woman nodded, hearing the almost pleading tone in Shippo's voice. "Let me get my keys." She said.

0-0-0-0-0

The car ride was long and unpleasant for Shippo. The encasement in the metal contraption accompanied by the noise and fumes of the other cars played havoc on his senses but he would endure it for his friends. He had told Kagome's mother and brother, who accompanied them to Satan City, what had happened in the past. Both had gone deathly pale and Mrs. Higarashi's knuckles were white as snow, she gripped the steering wheel so hard. There had been mostly silence afterwards with a few sparing questions about Kagome's condition. He told them what he knew but the details were old. Who knows what had happened since he left.

The drive from Tokyo to Satan City was almost two hours and that was a long time to let the mind wander. Shippo kept seeing horrible fates for each of his friends and he tried to not let each one show on his face lest he alarm the woman next to him. Souta sat in the back his eyes downcast and worried about his sister.

"I understand you are friends with some of the people from CapCorp, Shippo, but why are we going there. What can they do to help my daughter?" Mrs. Higarashi asked almost halfway there. She did not know the powers possessed by Lennex and the rest of his friends, she only knew that after the incident in their well, the shrine received a monthly donation from the company in a way of compensation for the trouble and because the owner and her security chief had become somewhat of friends with her daughter. Besides the donations, they also received care packages to be sent back with Kagome when she returned for periodic visits.

Shippo wanted to tell her the amazing truth of what they could do, but it wasn't his place to say and he advised her that they had ways of helping and left it at that. Shippo could see the answer was not satisfactory but she continued driving none the less.

Shippo's eyes widened as the city became visible from the highway. Satan City was different from Tokyo in a few ways. Due to Capsule Corporation being based there, the city received many benefits from the corporation making the city look almost futuristic. It had many domed and circular structures through ought the city along with the classic square buildings. There was also the introduction of hover vehicles which could be seen zipping here and there around the city. The rest of Japan, and the world, had slowly been incorporating these things into their way of life, but much more slowly then Satan City.

Seeing the city had a profound effect on Mrs. Higarashi and Shippo felt the car accelerate faster. The woman's worry for her daughter translating itself into the burst of speed to reach their destination quicker. Shippo silently urged her to go faster still and tried not to fidget as their destination was quickly coming closer.

0-0-0-0-0

They had arrived twenty minutes later at the Capsule Corporation business building located in the business district of Satan city. The building was almost fifty stories high and housed a lot of the business offices, as well as a few labs that CapCorp used. Shippo knew that the bigger and more specialized labs were housed at the headquarters of the company, which also served as the home to the owner, Bulma Briefs and her family. Lennex also stayed there, but sadly while he had been there, he did not know the way, and neither did Kagome's mother. She however knew the location of this building as she had attended a few meetings here concerning her shrine and the sudden interest capsule corp. had taken in it.

They had walked through the doors quickly and approached the desk. Shippo used his fox magic to make himself look like an ordinary human boy, and stood by Souta as Mrs. Higarashi spoke to the woman behind the desk. What he heard was not helping his mood

"As I told you before ma'am, our security chief is a very busy man, and he doesn't like to be interrupted. If your name is not on his list of contacts we are given, we can't just buzz him for any person off the street."

Shippo didn't like this lady at all. The words and her facial features were polite and nice, but he could tell it was mostly a façade and that they were being treated like they were not on the same level. Shippo would have just gone in search for his friend, but try as he might; he could not locate his power signature. Wherever Lennex was, he was not using any of his ki.

"I understand the rules you have to abide by miss, but this is an emergency. My daughter is in trouble, and according to this boy," she pointed at Shippo "he can help her. I receive donations and other things from this company, its not like I'm a total stranger, please page him for us."

The girl behind the desk looked skeptical at the story as she looked at Shippo.

"Ma'am, I don't want to sound rude, but why would a boy his age be telling you what course of action to take? If you have a child in trouble, wouldn't it be best to call the police? Our chief of security is not an officer of the law and doesn't help the general public. I'm sure you understand."

Shippo had had enough. He stepped forward and looked at the girl with his hardest glare he could muster.

"I know Lennex very well and he can help my friends. If they die because of your inability to help, I will personally make sure you pay for it." He practically snarled the last part, his anger and other feelings finally boiling to the top.

The secretary took a step backwards and regarded the young boy and shook her head.

"Threats don't work in this office little boy. If your friends are in that much danger then the police station is just down the street. I suggest you go there." She said raising her face up and closing her eyes, clearly dismissing the three of them.

Shippo would have done something rash had not a voice interrupted him.

"Hitomi, I'll handle Mrs. Higarashi and her sons from here it wont be a problem."

The voice made the girl go ridged and she quickly bowed to the owner of the voice. Shippo's eyes lit with hope as he saw the man standing before them. He had met him briefly once before but knew him to be one of Lennex's closest friends. He stood over five and a half feet and his lanky purple hair parted down the middle to frame his face. He wore a business suit and a pair of black reading glasses.

The secretary spoke softly while still bowing to the man. "Of course President Trunks, had I known you knew them I would have sent word to you they were here."

"Its ok Hitomi, could you fax these for me and see about picking up these items from the dry cleaner for me. That would be great." Trunks replied handing her a stack of papers. He turned towards the three visitors and motioned down the hallway to an elevator. They rode the elevator for what seemed like forever and Trunks made small talk with Kagome's mother. Shippo wanted to talk about the real reason they were here, but at Trunks request, he waited till they were in his office.

The exited the elevator and walked by another woman who sat behind a desk. Trunks greeted her politely and opened the door behind her and waved them in. Shippo's eyes widened at the site of the office. Not from the sheer size of it, but because almost the entire back wall was nothing but window, and they were very high off the ground from what he could see. Trunks shut the door and walked to his desk, sitting on the corner.

"How can I help you Mrs. Higarashi?" he asked her, crossing his arms.

"This boy needs to talk to your head of security if it's not too much trouble." She replied a bit sheepishly. While her daughter was in danger, she recognized the president of Capsule Corporation from all the magazines and news broadcasts he was in. He was considered one of the most sexist men in Japan and had somewhat of a following of female fans. While she was older then most of the girls lusting after Trunks, she was still a woman.

Trunks focused his gaze on Shippo and raised an eyebrow.

Shippo decided not to waste anymore time and in a puff of smoke he dropped his illusion, revealing his demon features.

"Well that explains the weird power reading I was getting from you." Trunks said as he recognized the demon. "Trouble in the past my little friend?"

Shippo nodded his head "You have no idea. I need to talk to Lennex quickly. My friend's lives are at stake."

Trunks nodded his head and reached for the phone on his desk, pressing a button on it. Mizumi, cancel all my appointments for the rest of the day and please have the chief of security report to capsule corp. headquarters immediately as if his job depended on it."

A voice replied back "yes Mr. Briefs."

Trunks looked back at the trio before him. "I can sense your haste Shippo, but let's wait for just a bit more so we can talk with everyone ok. If you'll come with me I have a personal hover car that will get us to CapCorp HQ in no time."

Shippo hated to put more time in this, but at least they were moving forward now. He prayed that his friends were all right as they walked to the location of Trunks vehicle. The building had a kind of garage in its top floors, and an access door for entering and exiting. They quickly got in the blue vehicle and trunks powered it on and took them out into the open sky. The three grabbed on to what they could, as none had ever been in a hover car before and stared out the windshield as the continued on to the next destination of their journey.

0-0-0-0

Shippo had been to the dome shaped building that was CapCorp headquarters a few times before, but the sheer size of the building always seemed to amazing him. Trunks had quickly and efficiently got them to the building in a quarter hour and landed the hover car in the back landing pad used by the family. As soon as the three of them had exited the vehicle, Trunks pressed a button on the side and the car disappeared in a cloud of smoke. From the cloud, a small yellow capsule remained, one that Trunks pocketed inside his business jacket. He motioned them towards the large building and led the way inside.

Souta stared at everything in child like wonder, and even Mrs. Higarashi looked amazed. It was a far cry from a shrine home, what with all the robots running around doing chores to the lavish rooms they passed by. The home of Bulma Briefs was defiantly one that was long overdue to be featured on lifestyles of the rich and famous. Shippo however followed right behind Trunks, a determined look plastered on his face. Nothing was going to stop him now that he was this close. He would get the help he needed.

The quartet wandered through the halls and up a flight of stairs to the second level of the building. They followed their lavender haired guide out a sliding glass door onto a very large balcony that overlooked the grounds outside. Shippo noticed two girls leaning against the railing of the balcony both in bikinis and both with drinks in their hands. One was blue haired and easily recognizable to Shippo, Bra Briefs. Lennex's girlfriend. The other was a blond haired beauty and was in deep conversation with Bra. Further down the railing a barbeque stood flush against the rail and a short man with a mop of black hair stood in front of the cooking machine, flipping patties of meat and rolling metal spears stuck with vegetables and meat over to cook the other side. He wiped the sweat from the warm day and the hot coals off his forehead and smiled at the two ladies seated behind him. These two mirrored the girls by the rail, only a little older looking. From the looks of it, Shippo was about to interrupt a pleasant sunny day gathering.

"Trunks, what are you doing home so soon, please tell me you did not skip out on work again?" the older blue haired woman spoke, a frown upon her face.

"No mother," Trunks replied motioning to the people behind him. "I brought company, someone wanted to see Lennex very bad, and was making quite a scene at the office."

Shippo had the grace to flush a little but quickly shook it off. He stood to the side of Trunks so the rest of the people could see him easily.

"Shippo, what brings you to the future?" Bra asked setting down her drink on the rail and approaching the little demon that Lennex had befriended, the blond girl following in her wake.

"I need to talk to Lennex. It's very important." The fox said solemnly to the girl he knew the most out of the group. The shorter man turned away from the grill at the statement and closed the lid, adjusting the heat to a lower setting and moving over to the now gathering group. Something told him he didn't want to miss out on this story. The visitors were offered seats around the low woodcut table that adorned the balcony and they took their seats in silence. The shorter man stood behind the chair of the older looking blonde and rested a hand on her shoulder. The younger blonde sat next to them, while Bra took a seat next to her mother, Bulma. Trunks remained standing by the doorway awaiting their next arrival. He didn't have to wait long.

The tall human turned Sayjin appeared out the door and nodded his head at Trunks, already feeling the tell tale signature of his demon friend.

"Got here as fast as I could, what seems to be the emergency my friend?" He spoke; his voice was steady and firm as he moved over to the table area. Shippo turned and gazed at his friend, hope filling his eyes for the first time since he set out on this plan.

"Yes, please tell us why our training session was interrupted. I was finally about to rid this world of Kakkarot's stupidity." Another voice barked from within the building. Two men followed in Lennex's wake, one was short and wore a blue bodysuit that left his arms free for movement, and the other man was garbed in an orange dogi with blue belt and matching arm bands. Both men had hairstyles that defied the natural laws of gravity, and both were covered in sheen of sweat from the interrupted training session.

"Oh give it a rest Vegeta," Bulma said rolling her eyes at her husband's words. "We may have something a little more important going on here then your rivalry."

The shorter of the two new comers rolled his own eyes and crossed his arms and went to stand against the wall of the building. The other man quickly walked over to the barbeque and lifted the lid, his eyes held an almost childish wonder.

"Help yourself Goku." The short cook said hiding his smile at his friend's antics. Lennex also had to grin at Goku's one track mind. He looked back at his demon friend and spoke. "I know whatever it is you're here for is important but lets have a round of introductions so everyone knows everyone ok." He pointed at the man next to the grill who was trying to do his best to swallow one of the shish ka bobs whole. 

"This is Goku one of the men who trained me early on. And this, "he indicated the shorter man in blue, "is Vegeta, another of my trainers." He motioned to the blue haired girls.

"This is the owner and brains behind CapCorp, Bulma Briefs, and her daughter Bra. You all obviously have met Trunks." He then focused to the other three.

"Finally we have Krillian, a long time friend of the Briefs family, his wife 18, weird name I know but there are reasons, and their daughter Marron."

The little family nodded to the newcomers and Lennex motioned towards them.

"This is Mrs. Higarashi, owner of the Sunset shrine in Tokyo, one of the properties CapCorp has been funding for the last few months, and her son Souta. And this is Shippo, one of my new friends from the past era."

There were polite nods from both sides in the way of greetings, well almost everyone was polite. Vegeta stood rock still against the wall and continued to glower at anyone who looked his way.

Lennex finally turned to Shippo. "All right my friend. Tell us why you're here."

The little fox demon closed his eyes to gather his thoughts and then started speaking.

"It happened really fast, and we didn't know what we were up against until it was almost too late…."

0-0-0-0-0

"Inuyasha, I'm telling you I have to return home in the next few days for a school project that I can't afford to miss. I don't know why you have to be so stubborn about this every time." The raven haired girl named Kagome spoke to the trailing half demon sired Inuyasha.

Their friends walked a bit behind them, all hiding their mirth at the dog demons chastising. Miroku walked as always with his staff In hand and smiled at his traveling companion, Sango. The demon hunter readjusted the strap that was slung around her shoulder helping her carry her main weapon, the fierce looking bone boomerang known as Hirakotsue. Her demon familiar, Kirara rode on Sango's other shoulder in her kitten form, staring at the two who led their party in journey.

Shippo strolled just ahead of Sango and Miroku waiting for the moment Inuyasha said the wrong thing and got face planted into the ground by the subjugation spell Kagome had put on him upon their first meeting. It was a secret glee the little fox had because most of the time the stubborn half demon had it coming to him and Shippo like to see justice done.

"Look wench, I know you want to go back to your school place and all, but the local villagers of this area have been complaining about strange movement all around this area. Lights in the sky and strangers moving about as if they owned the place. Some with strange abilities. I personally would like to see if a new bunch of demons have surfaced and maybe, just maybe, they might have a few shards of the jewel, something your supposed to be able to sense." The red clad half demon said a little too forcefully.

Kagome stopped in mid stride and turned to face Inuyasha, the turn came so fast that the green skirt she wore spun outwards and up a little reveling more leg then normal, something Inuyasha who tried not to notice to much, and Miroku who took a great deal of interest, both noticed right away. The latter received a sharp elbow in his ribs for his blatant interest in the other woman by a scowling Sango.

"First off Inuyasha, " Kagome retorted " I told you to stop calling me wench, its not that difficult a request, second of all, I can sense jewel shards and I don't sense any in this area. At all." The last two words she stressed just for the half demon. "From every thing the villagers have told us it sounds like we are chasing UFO stories."

The half demons ears stood a little straighter at the unfamiliar term "what's a UFO?" he asked

The girl from the future sighed and turned around to keep walking. "Never mind." She muttered more to herself then to her companions.

It was then that things started to go wrong.

Kagome felt Inuyasha grab her arm and jerk her backwards, pushing the girl behind him, his other hand reaching for his sword. Their two companions behind him stopped and tensed at the half demons reactions also readying their weapons, trusting their friend's instincts.

"We are about to have visitors."

No sooner had Inuyasha spoken then a large group of men started to appear out of the forest. They all wore identical clothing composed of gray pants, silver armor and a matching silver helmet adorned to their heads. There were five individuals who did not wear the helmet however and it was one of these that spoke.

"Halt. We have questions for you. Answer and we may allow you to live."

Inuyasha replied by pulling the Tesuigua from its sheath. The sword transformed into the large fang that once belonged to Inuyasha's father and held it firmly with both hands.

"I have your answers right here." He snarled

Almost immediately every man raised their arm to point at Inuyasha. He could see a slender cylinder attached to there arm ending in a hollow opening just above their wrist. He heard his friends ready their weapons behind him.

"Power level?" The same man who had spoken before asked. One of the helmeted men pushed a few buttons on the side of his helmet and spoke.

"It's the same as some of those other creatures we already encountered, the ones the locals call demons. The rest are normal humans except for the small one. The feline is also putting out a small power like that of a demon Commander Jhrall."

The man who first spoke nodded and looked at Inuyasha. "You don't stand a chance friend."

Inuyasha made a sound in the back of his throat "Keh, Jhrall, was it? I'm not your friend, and I don't take kindly to threats, leave us alone or leave in pieces."

Jhrall smiled and motioned to his men. "Try to keep some of them alive." He stated calmly.

Five of the normal looking soldiers advanced on the group, fanning out to get even coverage. Inuyasha didn't waste another second before raising his sword and slamming it into the ground.

"Wind scar!" he shouted as five energy blasts shot out from the impact zone cutting the men to pieces and causing those behind them to scatter away from the blast. Retaliation was swift as the Inuyasha observed what the cylinders on their arms did. Golden balls of energy shot out towards them from each one and he quickly grabbed Kagome and leapt to the air, evading as best as he could. Sango and Miroku also scattered while Shippo ignited a shield around him to which the energy blasts bounced off it.

Sango threw her mighty boomerang at a group of men hitting two, the sound of breaking bones could be heard across the forest. Miroku ran in close to another group and started to use his staff's razor edge to incapacitate foes, while using the staff portion to brain others into submission. Inuyasha let go of Kagome a safe distance away and quickly leapt back into the enemy. Swinging his sword in great arks. Their attackers continued to fire at the fast moving demon, but those who were unlucky enough to be close to him lost their lives to the great fang he held in his hand. Arrows started to fly around Inuyasha, as Kagome added her own special talents to the battle and he could see Shippo using his fox fire on a few of the stranglers on the flanks of group of men.

The battle seemed to be going well, until Jhrall and the other four men who were helmet less joined the battle. One man suddenly appeared in front of Miroku and caught the staff he expertly used as a weapon in one hand. Try as he might, the monk could not get it free from the vice like grip. Miroku quickly abandoned the staff and put a few paces between them before unraveling his sacred prayer beads around his wrist.

"Wind Tunnel" he cried as the vortex started pulling everything in its path into a void of nothingness. The man seemed to disappear instantly and those that Miroku had fought before were quickly pulled in. The man however reappeared behind Miroku and grabbed his wrist.

"Interesting weapon," he said, "seal it or we will find out how effective it is on your friends."

Miroku once again tried to free himself from his attacker but was unable to move his arm. It started to move on its own however towards Sango as she expertly fought off her own opponent with her demon slayer weapons.

"All right I will seal the tunnel, stop please." Miroku said already wrapping the cloth and sacred beads around his hand sealing up the wind tunnel. The man smiled at Miroku before gripping that hand and squeezing down hard. Miroku screamed in pain as every bone in his hand was shattered. As a final insult the man twisted the arm and unbeknownst to him, caused many minor tears in the wind tunnel. He finally let go of the monk, and Miroku dropped to his knees, staring at his injured hand. The cloth fluttered in an invisible breeze and Miroku knew that the curse that was placed upon him was slowly getting out of control.

Sango heard Miroku's cry and immediately came to his rescue, throwing the Hirakotsue at his attacker. The man seemed once again to disappear and Sango ran to Miroku's side.

"Are you ok?" she asked grabbing his shoulders to get a look at his face and was quickly shoved away by the monk.

"Get away from me Sango; I don't know how much longer I will last. The wind tunnel has been torn; it could swallow me and anything close to me up anytime now."

Sango stared at the man who on a daily basis, annoyed her, groped her, and generally went out of his way to hit on every female around her just to get a rise with tears in her eyes. While these things were annoyances, she also felt other feelings towards this man and did not wish this fate on him at all.

"We can get you to master Mushin; he was able to repair your hand once. We can still try while your alive houshi." She said, using her nickname for the monk.

"Interesting tid bit, thanks for sharing." a voice from behind her said. She tried to turn to face the man that had hurt Miroku, but he was too fast and kicked out at the young woman. His foot landing square in Sango's back, breaking it.

The demon slayer screamed in pain and collapsed into blissful unconsciousness next to Miroku, who tried to scramble away from her. His attacker had other ideas.

"Now now, why would we want to run away from someone who tried to rescue you, I think we should stay right here, close as can be." He said keeping Miroku in place. The monk tried to reason with him to let him go else he would die too, but his pleas fell on deaf ears. Kirara, who had transformed into her larger cat form tried to sink her large teeth into the man, but was quickly batted away, the power of the hit sent her soaring over the trees and out of view.

Shippo watched it all and went after Kirara, knowing he could do nothing for Sango or Miroku.

Across the way, Inuyasha was having his own tough time against Jhrall and two other men. They kept moving around him quickly, almost to fast to see and laying down hits and kicks whenever they could. His lip was already split and bleeding and he had bruises lining all up and down his body from the quick strikes. These men possessed more power then most humans. He tried swinging his sword at them and swiping at them fast moving men with his claws, but all he could hit was the empty air. Had there been only one, Inuyasha was fairly confident he could have beaten them. But three of them were too much, even for him. He then heard Kagome gasp as the last helmet less man grabbed her from behind, breaking her bow with one hand.

He snarled in rage and went to move for her but was punched savagely in the head, two more blows followed to his kidney area, and a kick landed on the backside of his knee, causing him to go down to one knee. He was then punched and kicked more times then he could count in a matter of seconds, the world growing fuzzy in his eyes. Finally Jhrall appeared in front of the half demon smirking.

"I told you, didn't stand a chance didn't I?" he said before backhanding the demon in the face. To Jhrall's amazement, the demon was still conscious but only barely. He smiled before giving Inuyasha an uppercut. The force of the blow sent Inuyasha a foot into the air and backwards, landing hard on his back were he lay motionless.

Jhrall turned to his man holding the young woman.

"She giving you any problems?" he asked.

"No sir, unlike the others, she has almost no fighting power."

Jhrall nodded and spoke out to survivors of his platoon. "Grab this rabble and bring them back to base camp, I will get some answers out of them if it kills them."

The men quickly did as they were told, and Jhrall walked back into the forest laughing to himself.

0-0-0-0

"By the time I was able to wake Kirara and get back to the path next to the forest, they were gone." Shippo said, finishing up the encounter that had caused his dash to the future. "I was able to follow them by smell. Mostly their normal smells, but also by Inuyasha's blood."

The group sat around the table not saying a word as they listened. Even Goku had stopped his inhalation of food as the story progressively got worse.

"I followed them to a camp they had set up about 5 miles away. They had thrown poor Sango inside a metal cage, and tied Miroku up next to it. He kept begging them to move him away from Sango, but the man he fought told this Jhrall what could possibly happen and to be cruel they put him right next to her. For a while, he continued to beg them, then he started screaming in frustration and rage and finally he just sat there, and his eyes were almost blank."

The young fox closed his eyes for a moment trying to get his emotions under control. He opened them again with unshed tears and looked directly at Lennex.

"They have Inuyasha chained like a dog and they kept beating on him and making Kagome watch. They kept asking questions and when they didn't get an answer they didn't like, they continued to beat on him. I know some of his bones are broken and the air smelled rank with his blood. Kagome tried to reason with them, but they continued anyways. They made her do menial chores. Moving supplies, polishing their boots. A lot of the men leered at her and made comments I won't repeat." At this Mrs. Higarashi closed her eyes as silent tears ran down her face at the plight of her daughter

"From what I gathered, they are from space and they are looking for some type of power they picked up. I couldn't really understand what they wanted, but they kept saying they would find it no matter what. Something about how no power ever got away from the Kremon Alliance."

"What?"

The group turned at the question towards the speaker. Vegeta, who had spent most of the time with a look of indifference on his face, had pushed off the wall and headed for the fox demon, a look of interest finally on his face.

"Tell me what they called themselves again, boy." He demanded.

Shippo looked at the Sayjin and repeated the name. Bulma looked questioningly at her husband. "You know these people Vegeta?" she asked.

The Sayjin prince nodded his head affirmative. "They were a militaristic race, almost like we Sayjins, except they were more technologically advanced when they were around. Most of the population was just grunt soldiers. Highly trained in warfare tactics and ground combat mostly. But there were a few powerful fighters. Extremely stronger then their entire army put together. The only reason they never bothered our race was because we were the exact opposite. Every Sayjin was a powerful fighter, and at the time, the Tuffels still lived on planet Vegeta, and their tech rivaled that of the Kremon alliance. They roamed the galaxy picking fights where ever they thought they could find a challenge, until they found a challenge that wiped out its most powerful fighters. From then on they tried to continue their existence as mercenaries until what was left of them was absorbed into the Frieza's ancestor's empire. A pity because when we Sayjins finally got the ability to travel space, we wanted to destroy them ourselves. What I don't understand is what they could be doing in Earth's past."

The short warrior started to pace around the balcony deep in thought. Before speaking again.

"Their planet is light-years away from Earth, and if they said they were looking for a power, it means they must have been able to pick up an energy reading, but there was no one strong enough back then for a reading to reach the Kremon's planet."

Shippo listened to the man as he revealed more information about the enemy they had encountered and piped up. "I heard them ask Kagome about it one time. They said they had picked up the power or whatever almost four klekets ago."

Krillian idly scratched his scalp and spoke, "Ok ill ask the obvious, what's a kleket?"

"It's a galaxy standard unit measurement. It translates to roughly nine months of Earth time."

They continued to speak about the Kremon alliance and the events happening in the past, but the words went unheard by Lennex. Eight months and a few weeks ago, he was trapped in the past and in order to beat an opponent, he had to ascend to Super Sayjin, a power that would most assuredly have been enough to be picked up by the Kremons.

"They're looking for me." He said quietly, but not quietly enough. All eyes turned to him. But the one that spoke came from the air above the balcony.

"Why would they be looking for you," the floating alien Namek known as Piccolo asked with a stern look on his face.

"Hello Piccolo sensei, how long have you been here?" Lennex replied.

"Long enough, answer the question." The green Namek retorted as he touched down on the wooden balcony next to Goku.

Lennex had the grace to look a little sheepish as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Maybe its time I told you guys everything that happened while I was in the past." He said, stressing the word everything.

Vegeta's eyes narrowed dangerously," Yes, perhaps you should whelp."


	3. Chapter 2: A Call to Action

"You want real power Kalin

_"You want real power Kalin? Let me show you how it's done." The yell started low in Lennex's throat but increased as the white aura of power flickered around him. The aura flared and a hint of color started to appear. Lennex continued his shout as he felt his power reach out and caress the invisible barrier that would take him to the next level. He felt the hindrance of that unexplained blockage try to stop him once again, but Lennex ignored it. His power was his to control again and he wasn't going to give it up this soon after just getting it back. He pushed past the familiar barrier and watched as his aura expanded around him. _

_Inuyasha and his friends retreated back several yards and watched and felt this new show of power from their friend. He was right about the wind as it doubled in force now that Lennex was adding to it. They watched the white aura flash golden a few times, slowly going back to white until Lennex increased the decibel of his yell and it flashed gold and stayed that way. His already spiky black hair seemed to stand up straighter and it too made a transition to a golden color. He ceased his cry as the transformation was finished and looked back over his shoulder at his friends. He winked at them again in a boyish manner, and Inuyasha could see that his eyes were now an icy turquoise color, instead of the ebony they had been. _

0-0-0-0-0

"After that we fought for a little bit. He turned out to be stronger because of that power sapping material I was infected with. But thanks to Kagome I was able to pull out the win." Lennex said to the people gathered around him on the balcony of CapCorp.

"Transforming into a Super Sayjin was the only course of action I had left if I wanted to survive"

"Ha, how about not getting involved with fights that are none of your business. I thought we told you not to get into trouble while you were back there?" an angry Vegeta snarled out.

Lennex shook his head. This was one of the reasons why he was very vague the first time around about his trip to the past.

"Look I got involved because these people became my friends. That's the only excuse I'm going to give. Like it or not it's all in the past. Literally. And now I have to go back to help again because this time I brought this on them."

"And what could you do?" Vegeta asked, "The Kremon alliance is backboned by tactical thinkers and when they go looking for someone, you can bet there are a lot more troops there then what the boy and his friends encountered."

"Then he would need someone who was equally great at tactics if not better, "Bra piped up before turning to her father, "Someone like you daddy, who could doubt the cunning mind of the Prince of all Sayjins." She finished sweetly

Vegeta stared at his daughter in surprise. It was no secret that the hard, cold warrior was wrapped around his daughters finger, and in that simple statement, she had ensured his participation. His pride would demand no less then proving the statement true. The rest gathered around the small table openly smiled at the warrior causing him to scowl.

"Fine, but you will accompany me since you volunteered my services."

Bra smiled at her father for she had planned on returning to the past anyways.

Shippo interjected at this point. "I only have two extra belts, how is everyone going to get back?"

"Not to worry, I have seven more belts, I always plan ahead, and I knew we'd have to go back in force some time. I am a genius remember." Bulma stated with a superior expression on her face.

Shippo's heart was getting lighter by the minuet. Things were moving forward faster then ever and he knew that he would be able to rescue his friends in no time.

"All right, first of all it looks as if we are going to need a base of operations, something Bulma can supply. Id like one of the capsule houses with a regeneration tank or two. This could be an extended campaign." Vegeta started staring at the ground while his thoughts raced in preparation. "That also means your coming back with us Bulma. I want someone there that can fix or improve anything we might need."

"Me?" Bulma exclaimed

"Yes you woman, I'd rather have you there then any of these technicians you employee. Besides, are you not the fearless woman who journeyed to Namek with a half grown boy and a half grown man."

The statement had the desired effect on Bulma and she shook her head in agreement. Krillian and his family also had an effect since the second half grown man Vegeta had spoken of was him. The glare 18 directed to the prince could have cut diamond.

"I want to go back to. I want to help." A quiet voice broke the momentary silence.

The Group turned to Mrs. Higarashi, for it was she that had spoken.

"What can a common housewife bring to the table?" Vegeta asked coldly

Mrs. Higarashi stared at the arrogant man before replying, "I did a little work with a Medical ward before I was married, I can set bones and tend to minor injuries just fine. Besides, I want to help my daughter."

"And I can use a nurse slash assistant Vegeta, Lord knows your no good in a hospital." Bulma piped up, earning her a smile from the worried mother.

"Fine, so that leaves 4 belts left. Any volunteers." Lennex asked.

"You can count me in; I want to see just how strong these guys really are!" Goku said excitedly.

Piccolo shook his head, "Typical Sayjin. I'm in, if someone is threatening Earth past or present, I'll defend her."

"Ya ill go." Trunks piped up.

"No you won't son of mine. I need someone here to run the company and since me and your sister are already going, that leaves you." Bulma stated crossing her arms.

Trunks was about to arguer the point, but a glare from his mother silenced him.

"Well what do you say honey, how about that second honeymoon I always promised you. Clean air, a different location, and all the bad guys you can pound your pretty little hands on?" Krillian asked with an infectious grin, one his wife returned.

"Sounds like a party." She responded.

"All right then, it sounds like our rescue party is formed. Now lets get some quick plans made and get back to the past. I don't want Inuyasha and company in the Alliance's hands any longer then necessary." Lennex said as the group bent their heads together to lay out groundwork for this mission.

0-0-0-0-0

After the impromptu strategy session, preparations were underway. Bulma, with the help of Bra, was in her lab getting the necessary capsules together for the trip to the past. Goku had disappeared to his home to inform his wife and family what was going on. Krillian and 18 also had returned home to pick up a few things, namely their old fighting gear. Piccolo, who was always ready to go, stayed on the balcony in meditative silence. Mrs. Higarashi was quietly giving instructions to Marron, who had volunteered to watch the shrine in their absence. Vegeta had disappeared to his room and Lennex waited patiently with Shippo in the kitchen. He figured the kit had not eaten in a while and he himself was a little hungry. He blamed his Sayjin blood for that. They spent the time talking about the adventures Shippo and his friends had been on since their last visit. Things had kept Lennex pretty busy the last few months and he wanted to know how the war with Naraku was progressing. From what Shippo had told him, it was still a stalemate between the two sides.

Lennex had just filled his mouth with a dumpling when Bra poked her head around the corner. "Mom says we are ready to go as soon as everyone is out back. We're taking one of the hover carriers back to Tokyo. Dad of course says to move your ass since this is your entire fault anyways."

Lennex nodded to the girl and quickly put away the food that had not been eaten. No sooner had Bra stated that they were ready, Shippo had immediately left the table to stand by her side. Lennex wiped his hands on a towel and tossed the cloth into the sink and motioned for Bra to lead the way, still chewing on his meal.

The three excited the building to see the rear of the hover carrier lowered into its boarding position. The carrier, in Lennex's opinion looked like mid sized moving van with wings. There were plenty of seats and room for equipment however since most of the equipment was capsulated, there was a lot of open space in the back. He saw Bulma in the pilot seat, checking and double checking the crafts readiness. Mrs. Higarashi sat in the back set of chairs along the wall, with her son. Across from them in the row of seats along the other wall sat Krillian, 18, and Marron. Marron had thrown on a pair of shorts and a tank top over her bikini and sat patiently like her mother, who had changed into a pair of utility pants a white t shirt, and a black vest, her normal fighting apparel. 18 believed in comfort and style which is why she chose to fight in normal looking clothes. Krillian however had changed into a familiar orange dogi with the symbol of the turtle hermit on its back.

Piccolo stood in the equipment area, with his arms crossed and eyes closed. The man looked like he was made of granite since he moved so little. Vegeta sat on the back hatch that was the ramp way. He had changed into another blue body suit that covered everything from the neck down. He still wore the white gloves and boots, but now had a chest plate of white armor with yellow trim. Lennex hit a couple buttons on his watch and a brief glow covered his body. One min he wore his normal street attire, the next his outfit mirrored Vegeta's Sayjin battle outfit.

"Well now that we are all here, we just have to wait on that fool Kakkarot to show up." Vegeta said standing up when his daughter and apprentice appeared at the foot of the ramp. Bra walked up and kissed her father on the cheek before moving to co pilot seat. Vegeta glared at Lennex and Piccolo daring either to make comment about the display of affection. Lennex knew better and kept his face blank. He glanced at piccolo and though for a moment he saw the Namek lips upturned in a smirk, but it was gone faster then a buffet in front of Goku.

"Take a seat Shippo and buckle in, Bulma's not known for her smooth takeoffs." Lennex told the demon

"I heard that!" A shout came from the front of the craft. Lennex smiled and turned to search the sky.

"Hey guys, sorry I'm late." Goku called from above. The three at the ramp turned to see Goku drop from the sky and land near them.

"Where have you been Kakkarot?" Vegeta demanded.

"Well Since the little fox told us that one of his friends is in imminent danger due to that curse thing, I stopped by Korin's to get a Senzu bean for him. I don't think any of us would be able to survive if it turned on him."

Lennex nodded in approval of Goku's consideration for his friend. Vegeta grunted and said "Well, it looks like you do have a brain in that thick skull of yours." Before turning away and walking into the craft to sit in the seats directly behind Bulma and his daughter.

Goku quickly walked up the ramp and took a seat as did Lennex, who hit the button to raise the ramp. Everyone had found a seat except Piccolo who remained standing.

Bulma hit the ignition and the craft hummed to life. She pulled a lever and hauled back on the yoke and craft lifted off the ground suddenly, causing its passengers to shift just a bit. Lennex found Shippo looking at him and he winked. In the next instant Bulma quite literally put the hammer down and the craft shot through the sky in the direction of Tokyo.

0-0-0-0-0

The trip back to the Sunset Shrine didn't take as long as the trip to Capcorp due to the mode of transportation, and Bulma's driving, and they arrived still in high spirits at the outset of their journey. Shippo made a straight line for the well house and impatiently waited on the steps leading to the structure.

As soon as everyone disembarked from the hover carrier, Bulma capsulated the craft and stuck the now inch long capsule back into her storage case of capsules. Mrs. Higarashi found her father and introduced him to Marron and advised him quickly of the situation.

For his part, he took the news rather well and wished her good luck. She quickly ran inside to change her clothes and to get a pair of sturdy boots to wear back into the past. Souta stood next to his grandpa and took in the group before him. Now that he had a chance to look them over he was impressed. What he first took as a weird fashion statement, he started to see the different outfits of this group for what they were, Battle gear. None represented this more then Lennex and Vegeta's outfits, although the shoulder gear of Piccolo's gear and the Orange and blue pattern of Goku and Krillian's outfits came close seconds.

Mrs. Higarashi finally exited her home and hugged her son and kissed her father on the cheek before moving to the lead of the group. This was her shrine and she figured she should be the good host for the little time they would be there. She past Shippo and slid the door of the well house open and motioned for the group to enter. After everyone was in Bulma started to hand out the time belts for everyone. Shippo had his on already and was powered up and ready to go as Bulma explained how they worked.

"The fox and I will go back first since were old pros at this," Lennex said chuckling a little bit as he had only done this twice and once he was barley conscious. "You guys come through two or three at a time and give some time for those in front to get out of the well before you go. Otherwise it could get crowded down there."

With that said, Shippo eagerly jumped down the well with Lennex right behind him. A brief blue flash lit the inside of the well and when the rest looked down, they were gone.

Bulma kept her eyes glued on the well watching her tech and the natural phenomenon of the well. Krillian and 18 were the next to leap down into the darkened well and with a flash they too were gone.

"Bra and Piccolo go next, followed by Kakkarot and the new woman so you can carry her out when you get there." Vegeta said looking at Goku and Mrs. Higarashi.

Bra and Piccolo quickly jumped down the well and were gone in no time. Bulma had sat on the edge of the well now and still peered into its depths, a look of concentration on her face. Mrs. Higarashi wasted no time slipping over the edge and the two left looked at Goku who was currently scratching the back of his head.

"Well?" Bulma asked indicating he should go down the well.

Goku smiled sheepishly and asked. "Which button was it again that I needed to press to make the belt thing work?"

"You're such a fool Kakkarot, there are only two buttons on the blasted belt, and even you should be able to remember the difference between green and red." Vegeta snarled.

When He didn't make a move towards the well, and it looked as if Vegeta was about ready to have an aneurism, Bulma quickly told him to press the green button and jump.

He gave a quick wave as he leapt into the well and Vegeta shook his head in disgust. He gave them a few moments and then walked up behind Bulma.

She continued to stare into the well.

"It's an awful long way down isn't it Vegeta? I wonder if you have to fall from this height or if you can climb down slowly. Maybe speed is a factor in the way the time portal works." She started to ramble more about time theory and acceleration and the hypothesis about going slowly might make the portal not work.

Vegeta rolled his eyes at his woman's stall and gently placed his hand on her back. She looked at him with a shy smile in the small gesture he used to comfort her, until she felt his hand tense as he quite literally pushed her off her perch and into the well. Her face was one of shock and betrayal as she fell in

"Vegeta just you wait, I'll," and in a brief flash she and the threat she was hurling at him was gone, five hundred years in the past.

The prince of the Sayjin empire shook his head again and cast a silent prayer to the heavens that someday he would not be surround by complete idiots and women who talked to much as he leapt into the well to join the rest of the fighters.

His last thoughts were on the Kremon Alliance, and how he would enjoy crushing them with his Sayjin might.


	4. Chapter 3: Assessing the situation

Chapter 3: Assessing the situation

The air smelled as crisp as it had the last time he had been here, and to Lennex, it was a welcome change from all the polluted air he had in the future. He and Shippo had cleared the Bone Eaters Well right away and now stood in the grassy meadow that contained it, surrounded by the trees of the forest. He took a quick reading of the area with his mind and felt all the signatures that were of demon origin. He also felt many battle powers that had not been here before. These had to belong to the Kremon Alliance and most of the battle powers were very low, probably signifying the common soldiers that Vegeta had told them about. There were however a few strong ones and if they could hide their power just like himself, then there was no telling what kind of trouble they would encounter.

Lennex glanced at Shippo and saw him staring at the well, or what had been the corner of it. There was chunk missing out of it and the edges of that missing chunk were charred and blackened.

"Near miss eh Shippo-chan?" he said to the fox. Shippo nodded his agreement and Lennex felt the entry of Krillian through the well. He assumed that 18 was with him, since her android body didn't produce a normal ki signature and wasn't disappointed when the blond android cleared the well with her short husband. The two looked around in a bit of awe as they took in the past for the first time.

"Amazing, Do I know how to pick a vacation spot or what?" Krillian said to his beautiful wife. He got a slight nod from her, and to those that knew her, that was a ringing endorsement. He saw Krillian's jovial attitude slide of his face a little bit and knew that he must have just sensed all the energy signatures around them.

"Wow, this is going to be Namek all over again." He said more to himself then anyone.

"The energy signatures that feel different and odd to you are the ones that belong to demons like Shippo here. Hopefully they won't give us any problems while we deal with the Kremons." Lennex clarified

"Well that's something at least. Still, this could take a while." He replied. At that moment they felt the arrival of Bra and Piccolo. The two leapt out of the well and moved towards the rest.

Bra stopped by Lennex and smiled at him while glancing around. This would be her second trip to the past so she was prepared for the difference in site and smell. Lennex looked at his Namek sensei and saw him taking everything in with a cool eye. He looked at Lennex and spoke.

"If that's all the more powerful they are, this should be easy, but I doubt we will be that lucky." He said indicating that the first thing he had done was scope out the enemy.

"We never are, are we?" Krillian responded to Piccolo. The Namek grunted in agreement and looked around at the forest waiting silently for the rest of their companions. They didn't have to wait much longer as they felt Goku's arrival. He floated up out of the well carrying Kagome's mother bridal style. When he set down on the ground he set her gently to her feet, both of them looking around. Lennex could see that the past didn't have that much of an effect on Goku. He figured the reason behind that was because Goku lived far outside the city, in the wild untamed countryside of Japan. Mrs. Higarashi however took everything in with wide eyed wonder.

"So this is the land my daughter has been helping defend the last couple years." The woman's respect for her daughter skyrocketed immensely. She always knew the dangers Kagome faced as her daughter rarely kept anything from her. But hearing about the past and seeing it first hand were two entirely different things

"Welcome to feudal Japan everyone." Lennex said jovially waving his arms to encompass the land. The others smiled and took in everything around them in silence. A silence that was brutally shattered.

"…kill you in your sleep, I know where you're most vulnerable you miserable son of a ..." a woman's voice shouted from inside the well before it was cut off.

"Why don't you just let any potential enemies know we have arrived? I swear your planets definition of genius does not match the rest of the galaxies." A male voice retorted

Those that stood in the meadow cringed, some immediately dropped into defensive stances, but then, those familiar with the voices straightened up, some of them grinning, others shaking their heads. Shippo and Mrs. Higarashi, seeing everyone else relaxing did the same. Moments later, Vegeta flew out of the well and unceremoniously dropped Bulma to the ground. The look on her face promised retribution, but the Sayjin prince either was not worried, or chose to ignore it.

"You always did know how to make an entrance." Lennex said laughing, Krillian joining him in the ribbing. They both however dropped the smiles of their faces when Vegeta glowered at them. Bulma stood up and brushed her pant off before seeming to forget about Vegeta's rude behavior and looked around at the past.

"Wow this is amazing. I can get a lot of data from being back here. Soil samples, water samples, we can have an actual comparison between this time and ours. Science would..."

Her thought was never finished as Vegeta cleared his throat. Bulma looked at him with the menace back in her eyes. Again Vegeta ignored this.

"Later woman, we have a battle to win first." He said to her before turning to Lennex. "We need information. I'd like to know what's going on if that's possible in this backwater time."

Lennex nodded to the Sayjin prince. "The best place to go would be the village, if anyone knows what's going on around these parts, the priestess Kaede will."

"Lead the way then." Vegeta commanded

Lennex nodded again, and together with Shippo, started off along the beaten path that led to the village.

0-0-0-0-0

They had walked to the edge of the forest before Vegeta called a halt. He deemed a small group would be best to go into the village. If they wall went it might draw more attention then they wanted. Lennex volunteered almost at once and Shippo was not far behind. Surprisingly Mrs. Higarashi also spoke up, wanting to visit the village she heard her daughter talk about so much. Vegeta nodded and turned to Bulma who had crept up to the edge of the forest and looked down the hill towards the village, a pair of electronic binoculars to her eyes as she surveyed the rice fields and the village below.

She dropped the binocular and let the strap carry the weight as she walked back to the group, her face a mixture of thought and triumph.

"I knew we'd need disguises to blend in so I already had some stuff put together. The ready made outfits almost match, and I should be able to remove the things that don't." she said when she was in earshot. She removed a capsule box from her belt and opened it, quickly selecting a blue one. She pressed the button on the top and tossed the capsule to the ground. A small poofing noise accompanied by a cloud of smoke erupted on the ground and when the smoke cleared a large crate was on the ground.

She repeated this two more times and started digging through the crates tossing clothing to either Lennex or Mrs. Higarashi. When she was finished the two walked back into the trees for some privacy to change. Bulma re encapsulated the crates and put the small capsules back in the box before selecting a red one. She threw it to the ground and a few moments later a small box laid there. She picked that up and opened it reveling two small ear transmitters. She handed one to Vegeta, while pulling the other one out of the box.

After a few moments the two infiltrators came back to the pathways garbed in the clothes Bulma had given them. Lennex and Mrs. Higarashi both wore the clothes of village peasants

Lennex spoke to Shippo "Well what do you think, these match pretty well?"

The kit looked them both over and after a few moments he nodded his head Bulma's face had a smug look on it. She walked over to Lennex handing him the other ear bud. "Of course they match, I put it all together remember. Now this little item will let Vegeta hear everything said so he can get a first hand account. They will also let him talk to you so he can have you ask the questions that you haven't already asked."

Lennex nodded his head and clicked the small button on the item causing the insides to glow a faint blue. He shoved the piece into his ear and the blue faded away, replaced with the exact color of Lennex's skin.

"Well, let's go to work shall we?" Lennex said gesturing towards the path. Shippo and Mrs. Higarashi went first followed closely by Lennex. The others stepped back further in the trees.

"Ok most of the villagers are going to recognize Shippo here, but if anyone who doesn't know him asks, we're all just one happy family." Lennex said to his female companion. She nodded her understanding and they continued on. Lennex nodded his head to the workman out in the rice paddies as they walked between the fields. It didn't take them long to enter the village

There were women about with baskets of goods or cloths, heading to their destinations while the men were either out in the fields or working on the huts of the village. The one thing Lennex noticed was each villager walked with an air of alertness that he had not seen in them before. Shippo led the way to Kaede's hut and the two followed him closely. The reached the hut in minutes and saw the old woman sitting in front of her hut, separating herbs. She must have been deep in thought because she didn't look up till they were almost upon her. When she did, her one eye widened in surprise.

"Shippo, thank the gods, they said you had died?" she said to the small fox as he ran up to her giving the older woman a fierce hug. Lennex spoke next.

"While I would love to hear who they are, I think it would be better to speak inside your hut, Lady Kaede."

The older woman looked up at him it didn't take her long to recognize him.

"I see ye have returned to our world, and yes it would be best to go inside." She laid the herbs aside and Lennex helped her to her feet and the four entered the hut.

"Kaede, have you heard anything about Inuyasha and the others?" Shippo asked before they had even finished settling down.

Kaede nodded and looked at Lennex. "I think I can answer both questions at the same time. Men have appeared here in the village of late. They are not demon but they have items that give them such strange power. They all wear a silver armor and treat everyone they come across as beneath them. Certain ones have made repeated visits, asking about the young one here. It seems they wanted to know more about the fox they had killed in a pursuit so they could take the knowledge back to his friends who they said they held captive."

Shippo's face lit up a little at the mention of his friends. "So they are still alive?" he asked, the hope evident in his voice.

"As far as I know they are. From what I have gathered from the near by villages, these men have appeared all over in the last day. They are searching for something, and it seems that they keep focusing on demons, but they still search. The ones I spoke of before have come back to this village twice for food and supplies. Their strength is unmatched. They have come to see me personally asking about Inuyasha and the others. It seems they know this is his home, but the people have told them little. From what I hear most of them are in bad shape."

The comment caused Mrs. Higarashi to gasp and place a hand to her mouth. Kaede focused on her. "I have yet to make your acquaintance. May I ask who you are?"

Lennex spoke for her, seeing that the woman needed more time to get herself under control. "This fine woman is Kagome's mother. She wanted to come back with us to help out her daughter."

Kaede bowed her head in greeting. "You should be very proud of your daughter; she has faced many perils to help this country out. Things are starting to become clear now," She said turning her attention back to Shippo, "they said they had killed you in the bone eater's well meadow, and that nothing was left of the body, but you went down the well to enlist his aid. Very clever child, as I feel we do need it. But unlike last time when there was only one opponent. Now there are many. Can you handle it alone?" she asked Lennex

"Ah, but I'm not alone, my friends wait for me on the edge of the forest. We have some knowledge of the enemy, who they are and what they are looking for. We just wanted to get a picture on what has been going on since Shippo left. You said from what the other villages are saying, they are spreading pretty fast eh? Is there any idea on how long they have been here?"

Kaede nodded "That they are. One village reports seeing these men as early as two days ago. Nothing I have heard of since then has said any earlier then that. The village stores have been raided and even the Daimyos are feeling the effects of these interlopers."

"Well that's why we are here. To put them in their place." Lennex said, he looked at Shippo "But first things first, lets go save your friends, can you remember the way to that camp?"

"I can get us close, close enough that my nose should be able to get us the rest of the way, I wasn't exactly watching my surroundings when I was running." The kit responded.

Lennex was about to respond when he went silent, the ear bud had made three quick static bursts before going silent. He pulled the item from his ear and the skin color faded leaving it the dull blue. The glow had disappeared.

"What happened to it?" Mrs. Higarashi asked remember it should be glowing.

"Remote shut off, Bulma turned it off for some reason."

That reason was quickly discovered as a villager stopped at the door way of the hut. "Lady Kaede, they have returned." He spoke quickly as he ran off. Lennex crept to the doorway and peered out. Sure enough several men were walking through the village. Some splitting up while one remained on a direct path to them.

"That is the one that keeps coming back almost every two hours." Kaede said from his side.

Lennex looked back at the other two. "Ok new plan Shippo on the bed and pull up the covers so they can't see your feet. You get to play sick." He said and looked at Mrs. Higarashi, "and you get to play the worried mother."

Shippo quickly got on the bed and pulled the covers over his fox feet while Mrs. Higarashi knelt beside the bed, doing a very good job of looking worried. Shippo closed his eyes and then opened them quickly.

"What about my ears?" He asked.

Lennex swore as he forgot about the fox demons pointed ears. He looked around quickly and saw a pot of water with some rags behind it. He quickly wet one and folded it handing it to Mrs. Higarashi. She caught on and laid it across Shippo's forehead, letting the edges fall over the tops of his ears. Lennex quickly turned to Kaede and said

"He fell ill last night and his fever hasn't broken. We didn't know what to do and our village elder said you know how to cure many sicknesses, please Priestess, help our son!" Lennex finished the statement by dropping to his knees and bowing low just as a shadow fell over them from the doorway.

"Yes Priestess, help the poor fools and their child." Lennex glanced up, keeping the fear of loosing a child on his face as he watched the man take off his helmet. He was humanoid and his skin matched theirs but his hair had a greenish tint to it. He walked over to the bed and peered down.

"I could end his suffering for you." He said as he pointed his arm at the child, a small glow appearing at the end.

Lennex recognized the ki cannon and was about to move when Mrs. Higarashi flung herself over the child, playing her part well, "No please, he's my only son. Don't take him from me!" she said hiding her face in the crook of Shippo's neck.

The Kremon solider laughed but powered down his cannon as he turned to Kaede.

"You know why I am back. Our Recon keeps pointing us to this village. Our information states that many strange things happen here and many powerful creatures show up. We believe what we want is here or that someone one here knows about it."

Kaede walked up to the man unafraid. "I have told ye that we are protected by the great half demon Inuyasha, anything that comes here looking for trouble is dealt with by him."

The soldier laughed. "That weakling mongrel is your savior eh. Maybe what we want isn't here then for that pathetic…demon is it… couldn't defend anything from what we have seen. All he does is constantly moan and whine and threaten us over the treatment of the young girl that was with him. We keep trying to tell him that she is a slave girl to us now, and she will be properly taken care off." He said laughing.

Lennex was glad that Kagome's mother still had her face hidden because the glance of it he'd gotten saw it go deathly white. He reached into his tunic and under his armor where he stored a few things before bringing out a small cube of adhesive putty. He quickly molded it and stuck the ear bud inside. Before crawling in front of the soldier.

"Please sire I beg of you, please leave the priestess be, our child is sick and she is our only hope." He said, bowing low before him and grabbing the man's boots and pressing the putty into the back as he begged.

Like the ear bud the putty quickly color changed matching the silver of the boots. That was the only thing he saw as the soldier kicked him back.

"Get off of me you sniveling worm. We do what we please. Your world will soon find this out the hard way I fear." He laughed at his own wit and left the dwelling, apparently satisfied with what he had been told.

Lennex picked himself up off the ground and wiped the blood from his lip. "Remind me to repay him for that." He said to no one in particular. Shippo sat up and Mrs. Higarashi turned to face him, he could see tear tracks on her face but she had her emotions under control now.

"Thank you for the shelter Lady Kaede, but we have a jail break to put together." Lennex said looking out the doorway. The last of the soldiers had taken to the air and were gone over the trees. He motioned for the two to follow him and they hurried back up to the woods.

When they were close enough to Bulma Lennex said "Please tell me that you can track those communicators even when they are off?"

"Of course I can. Why?" she asked.

"I planted mine on one of the soldiers; he all but confirmed he's from the camp that is holding my friends."

Vegeta nodded his approval. "Lets find some place that's out of view to set up our temporary headquarters and then we will pay them a visit. We need something like a small valley or a large cave or something.

"There's a small canyon just south of the village that have plenty of caves. Inuyasha once fought a giant scorpion to the death there." Shippo piped up.

"Perfect, lead the way runt." Vegeta replied.

Shippo quickly bounded off and the rest moved to follow him. Krillian sidling up beside Bulma.

"Gee, hiding in a cave, this really is Namek all over again."

Bulma chuckled and the two walked on to their next destination.

0-0-0-0-0

AN/ Well here is the next installment. Hope you liked it. Feed back is always welcome. Next chapter should be out sooner then it took to do this one, but I always say that so I wont make any promises, but I am itching to write it as we will be seeing our old friends once again, hopefully our heros are not to late wink wink. Until next time.


	5. Chapter 4: Contact

Chapter 4: Contact

"The cave looks pretty good Vegeta," Krillian said as he walked back out into the daylight from said cave. "18 says there is plenty of room to use the capsule house Bulma brought with her in there."

18, who was behind her short husband nodded her agreement to the Sayjin prince. The group had quickly walked from the outskirts of the village to the canyon Shippo had told them about. The walk took them almost a half hour at a brisk pace, but once they had arrived they found what they were looking for in record time. Vegeta had dispatched the married couple to check out a cavern they had found. By air, the entrance was impossible to see, and from the ground, you had to be almost in front of it to notice a fissure between the rocks.

Vegeta had stepped into the entrance way a bit and noticed that the cave curved towards the left, which would be perfect for a sentry on the inside. They would be able to hear an approach without being seen. The other two had gone in further and explored and were now back giving their findings.

"Good, Bulma go in and get set up." Vegeta barked. He had the patience of a seasoned warrior, and knew setting up a safe headquarters was a sound tactical decision, but his Sayjin blood was pure, and therefore burned for the fight he knew was close at hand, therefore he was short with his colleagues. Not that he was ever remotely polite to them anyways.

Bulma ventured inside, beckoning 18 to show her where the best place to drop the capsule would be. It was dark and dry inside, but they soon reached an area where the ceiling of the cave was fifty feet high and very large indeed. Bulma took the capsule that would give them modest accommodations and pushed the plunger and quickly ran from the capsule. In a large plum of smoke, a building now stood in its place. It was two stories, with living quarters on top, and a medical facility, with two regeneration tanks, took up most of the first floor along with a meeting area and modest kitchen. The building design was a big hit with military factions across the world, which was why Bulma had selected it. She thought back again to the parallels that this trip had with Namek and was pleased to see that she had avoided one similarity. The house she used on the now destroyed planet had been a luxury model fit for pop stars and spoiled brats. She was glad those days were over for her.

Mostly.

The rest of the group had now filed into the cavern and approached the house along with Bulma who hit the switch next to the door, activating not only the opening mechanism, but also starting the buildings self contained power generator. A low hum could be heard for a short time as the buildings electrical systems energized and then stabilized. They entered the structure and looked around the main floor a bit before entering the medical facility. The regeneration tanks lined the north wall, while a white table lined the east. Trays of tools and other devices surrounded it. The rest of the room had a small work counter with medical test equipment and patient seating.

Vegeta glanced around and nodded in approval. This would do. Bulma, get these tanks ready to go and make any other preparations you need to. We know we have some injured, but not how many and in what condition they may be in now. Familiarize the woman with what she will need to know to help you. Bra, stay and guard your mother."

The young blue haired beauty started to protest before being cut off by her father.

"That wasn't a request. You wanted the great military genius to lead this expedition, so you shall have it. Besides I wouldn't think guarding your mother would-be so unimportant to you."

The protest she was about make died on her lips as her father's words brought her up short. He was right, to complain would seem like she thought her mother unimportant. Something she knew that none of the group believed, but it had been said now and there was no way to save face. He was right, she wanted him to lead and he was. It was time to play the good soldier. She nodded at her father and took up a position out of the way to watch the rest of the group.

Mrs. Higarashi went to stand by Bulma ready to receive instructions, but the woman currently looked at her husband.

"And what are you going to be doing, oh fearless leader."

He grinned at her, a grin she had not seen in quite a long time, and had they not been in the company of the others, she may have pounced on him right there.

"We are going hunting. Its time our enemies got a taste of what they will soon be dealing with." His blood was boiling now just thinking about the coming confrontation. He turned and walked back towards the entrance and the rest turned to follow. Shippo and Lennex were the last ones out and they both stopped, turning to the women left behind.

"We will get your daughter back, Mrs. Higarashi, that's a promise." Lennex said.

The worried mother nodded her thanks as she watched the two disappear, hoping deep in her heart that what he said would come true, and not become just false bravado. Bulma touched her shoulder and motioned towards the regeneration tanks, already explaining their operation. She cleared her thoughts of her daughter's plight and listened intently. She would be ready when they returned to her, good or bad.

0-0-0-0-0

Vegeta stood outside the cave, examining the tracking unit he held in his hands. The signal to the deactivated ear bud was showing a south east direction of travel. Soon the rest of his party was with him and he slipped the unit under his armor.

"We do this with stealth, as the little man and my wife are so fond of saying; this is going to be like Namek. We go with minimal power, keeping to the ground. No flight unless absolutely necessary. We do have one advantage this time however," He said looking at 18. "The tin woman will take point and unlike the rest of us, she can go at full power and their scouters won't pick her up. It will give us a bit of a buffer zone. I assume you can follow the frequency like the tracking unit I have can't?"

She narrowed her eyes at the smug prince. The last question was said mockingly, the man had never forgiven her for thoroughly beating him into the ground when they had first met. She never rose to his taunts or baits, and she didn't this time either. Instead she blurred quickly out of site, heading towards the signal coming south east.

Vegeta made a noise in the back of his throat. The android never lost her cool. He both admired and despised her for that.

"Let's not fall behind shall we. Remember minimal power." And he started running after 18, not moving as fast as the android woman, but faster then any human would be. The rest quickly followed suit.

Luckily Shippo was a demon; otherwise he would have been left in the dust by this group. He trailed the rest who had fanned out in a sort of crescent formation, Vegeta and Goku making up the center with Krillian and piccolo on Goku's right, while Lennex and the young fox were on Vegeta's left. He focused his mind, trying to detect any power coming from any of them, but they all had taken Vegeta's words to heart. They were using just enough power to augment their speed, but detection would be almost impossible. The plains, rice fields, and forests blurred around them as the sped along and every so often 18 would return to the group, giving brief updates on what was up ahead before disappearing again.

Upon these little updates Vegeta would make minor course corrections. Sometimes Shippo could f eel why, as the power levels of Demons, came into his awareness in the exactly locations their previous course would have taken them. Sometimes it wasn't always demon energy they felt though, sometimes it was Kremon patrols.

They had run for almost an hour at their heighten speed, and Shippo figured they had covered at least seven or eight miles. As they ran along the edge of another small forest that lined the roadway, Shippo looked around and stopped. Lennex noticed his friend's sudden halt and called for the rest to come to a stop. Lennex was going to question his friend about their sudden lack of momentum when his eye caught the signs of battle on the land.

He could see the tracks on the ground, telling of people circling and fighting, he could see scorch marks and holes in the ground from energy blasts and other attacks. He also took note of the five groves in the ground that had almost certainly come from Inuyasha's Wind scar. He noticed no bodies of any fallen soldiers, but he did see bits and pieces of armor, silent testaments that his friends, didn't go down without taking some of their enemies out. But then he and Shippo both noticed almost at the same time two items that littered the battle field. Shippo walked over to the first and gently picked up the smooth wooden staff, of which the top was adorned with a golden head that held three gold rings on each side. The top of the golden head had been sharpened to a razor and belonged to the monk, Miroku.

The others realized the significance of where they were, even without full knowledge of the people they came to save. He saw Krillian move towards the second object. The short man picked up the weapon that was almost twice his size. While he had no problem hefting the weapon, his body let him know just how heavy the bone boomerang, Hiraikotsu was.

"Someone uses this as a weapon?" he asked

Lennex nodded with a small smile as he thought to the owner's weapon. "She uses it with precision, Krillian; it's almost like watching art in motion."

The small man's eyes widened upon learning the owner was a woman. She must be strong indeed

Lennex took out a box of capsules and selected one that once in full size would be house both weapons easily. He knew his friends would like them back once they were free.

Piccolo called attention to another weapon left on the battlefield, a broken bow next to a quiver of arrows. "Wasn't one of them an archer?" the Namek asked

Lennex nodded thinking to himself that archer might be stretching it a bit, but Kagome was getting better every day.

Shippo looked around at the place where half a day earlier, his friends had been whole and hearty. Now they were scattered and battered. He hoped they were still alive. Broken bones could be mended; death was a lot harder to come back from.

"I wonder why Tetsusaiga isn't here?" Lennex's question brought him out of his reverie. The others looked questioningly at the young Sayjin for a more in depth explanation, one which he provided.

"It's Inuyasha's weapon, a standard katana when sheathed but it transformers into a much larger sword. The rest of the weapons are here but it isn't."

"They have it with Inuyasha. It's kept close to him but just out of his reach. In the time I was with Kirara, Kagome could have told them what Tetsusaiga does for Inuyasha. She hates when he transforms. She could have told them to prevent it."

Lennex explained to his friends what Shippo was talking about. He told them of the monstrous transformation Inuyasha goes through when his life is threatened and becomes full demon, not able to distinguish friend or foe, and how his sword seals that blood, keeping him half demon and sane.

"Speaking of Kirara, where did you leave her Shippo?" Lennex asked.

The kit looked to the ground with a shameful look.

"I left her in the forest. I didn't think it best for her to move after her injury. After everything else that happened since… I forgot about her."

"So if this is where the battle took place, then she should be around here somewhere." 18 asked as she appeared next to Lennex and overhearing the fox. She then turned to Vegeta

"It's clear for another few miles then we hit forest. I felt a large group of signatures somewhere within and the signal seems to be along the same course."

Vegeta looked off into the distance, not really seeing with his eyes but with his mind. He felt what 18 was talking about.

Shippo suddenly sniffed the air and then took off into the forest. The rest were at a loss to the sudden movement but silently followed the fox.

They entered into the forest and after a few moments quickly spied the fox demon hovering over a small two tailed cat. They were also not alone. On the other side off the small kitten knelt a young girl in an orange and white kimono. Next to her stood a short green imp that held a two headed staff that measured a full head taller then the creature. What surprised the group the most however was the giant two headed beast of burden that sat on the ground behind the two strangers. This creature they eyed nervously as it returned their stares in much the same manner.

"Well now if it isn't the little toad, Jaken." Lennex taunted the kappa demon, remembering their first meeting. He kept his senses on high alert so that if the demons master appeared, there would not be a replay of last time.

The green demon narrowed his yellow eyes and crossed his arms a little tighter, causing the staff to shift in the crook of his arm. Jaken didn't respond but turned his attention back to his traveling companion and the pest that was talking with her.

"We found her here in the forest as we were traveling. She looked pretty banged up. Lord Sesshomaru told us to stay here as he went to investigate the roadway. I figured since she was hurt we could take care of her." The young girl said pointing to the bandage that was wrapped around Kirara's middle.

"Thank you Rin," Shippo said to the girl before softly petting the two tailed cat, "how are you Kirara?" he asked. The kitten replied with a small meow before closing her eyes.

"Lord Sesshomaru said she would be fine when he returned from the roadway, saying rest and time would be the only thing the demon cat needed." Rin spoke again, alleviating Shippo's worry.

While the two had talked Lennex had quickly filled in his friends who these people were and who they were talking about. He looked towards the young girl and asked a question.

"Where is his high and mighty lord ship anyways?"

This caused Jaken to take the staff into his hands and point it menacingly at the Sayjin.

"Lord Sesshomaru," the green demon put much emphasis on the name, "Went off to discover what happened to his wretched half brother. He said there was some kind of battle, and why he doesn't care if Inuyasha lives or dies, it should be he that deals the killing blow."

Lennex's eyes widened a bit at that news and turned to the others.

"This could be an issue for us if he went to the Kremon camp and caused problems. Sesshomaru is like Vegeta, he's not really a people person."

Vegeta pinned his protégé with glare before speaking to Jaken.

"How long ago did your master leave?"

"Not that it's any of your business but he left a half hour ago." He replied with much contempt.

"Think that is enough time for him to get there?" Krillian said out loud.

The sudden spike in energy they all felt coming from the forest east of them was the entire group needed to answer that question correctly.

Yes

0-0-0-0-0

The Kremon solider lay face up on the ground, his open eyes stared lifelessly towards the heavens as the tall aristocratic demon stepped over him. His armor was torn open by the demons energy whip attack and it had the rest of the soldiers platoon on guard.

Sesshomaru coolly regarded the rest of the soldiers and their apparent leader who was sitting at a small table with food and drink and what appeared to be scrolls littering the table. Next to him stood his half brothers priestess. She looked worse for wear, dirty, clothes rumpled and ripped, and tired. But the one thing he noticed was that the proud fire that always lit her gaze was still there. She looked shocked to see him as much as the common soldiers did. Said soldiers were starting to form a wall between him and his prey that slowly stood from his table glaring at the new comer to his camp. He barked something sharply to Kagome and the young woman shrank backwards, appearing meek to the man. Sesshomaru's sharp eyes saw her quickly glance over towards the left and he followed her gaze.

He now knew why she obeyed so readily. His half brother was collared and chained to a simple metal stake in the ground. His clothes shredded and the air was filled with the reek of his blood, their father's sword was stuck into the ground a mere foot away. The injuries kept him lying on his side and his eyes, though cloudy with pain, kept a constant watch on Kagome.

The man that had stood from his table walked over to Inuyasha for his eyes had seen both glances towards the injured half demon and violently kicked him in the ribs. Inuyasha cried out in pain

Kagome sucked in a sharp breath and moved towards her injured friend, pleading with the man to leave him alone and was shoved backwards hard enough to lose her balance and land on the ground with a grunt.

The man finally looked at Sesshomaru and questioned, "What brings you here demon." He said for such a similar appearance to his beaten prisoner left no doubt in his mind this creature was a demon.

"I have come to find out what manner of beings have invaded my land, and to find out why my half brothers blood fouls the air." He replied quietly but forcefully.

"Your land eh?" the man replied as he walked forward to step in line with his men. "And this little weakling is your dear brother is he?"

"I spoke of no affection for the mongrel, just the fact that his blood fouls the air. Whether he lives or dies is of no concern to me, but his life belongs to me as I am the elder brother. It would not be fit for my father's blood to be spilled by likes of you."

The leader laughed causing some of his men to join in before speaking to them.

"Well, it certainly seems like we have found an extremely regal demon in these parts haven't we? What should we do about his attitude?"

One of the men towards the outside of the line spoke up, "I think the proper thing to do would be to teach him some humbleness, Commander Jizu."

"All too right corporal, take a couple men and beat it into him for us." Jizu said smiling at the tall demon.

The solider that had spoken slapped the two men on either side of him and the three charged in trying to catch Sesshomaru off guard with their sudden rush.

The Demon however had other ideas as he met them head on seeming to blur out of existence and reappearing in front of the lead soldier, his singular arm shot out and his hand glowed an eerie green color grabbing the man around the throat. The soldier screamed as the poison that excreted from Sesshomaru's clawed hand came in contact with his flesh.

The scream caught the other two off guard and they faltered in their attack. Sesshomaru picked the man up by the neck sinking his clawed fingers into the man's neck allowing the poison to enter the inside of the man's neck, dissolving flesh and muscle from the inside out before throwing him at the corporal, whose suggestion had started this chain of events. The two men collided and sprawled in the dirt. The corporal shoved his mate off of him and looked at the man. There was hardly anything left of his neck and he heard a gurgling sound coming from him, as he tried to get air to his lungs around the poisoned damage to his air way. The corporal knew he would soon be dead.

In the time it took for him to take stock of his condition the second man he had enlisted to help was currently fending off the whip attack that felled their sentry. Since he had seen it eat through the armor he tried to keep his distance from the attack, but multiple gashes adorned his once pristine chest plate, evidence of failure in that endeavor.

Sesshomaru moved at lightning speed to close the gap between them and shoved his hand through the weakened armor and into the man's body just above the heart. He let the poison drip from his claws once again to finish the job. The solider fell to the ground, dead before he hit.

The corporal had regained his feet and powered his arm cannon, readying it to fire when a weak chuckle reached their ears. Sesshomaru heard it too and turned his eyes to his half brother. Jizu and his men followed suit.

Kagome had taken the opportunity the fight provided her and knelt on the ground behind Inuyasha, propping him into a sitting position with her body.

"Looks like you are good for something Sesshomaru, just like the kit told you, you get Kagome and the others out of here, and father's fang is yours." Inuyasha said, his voice sounded wet, a sure sign that blood had entered his lungs.

Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes as he gazed upon his brother and the woman who journeyed with him. He then took in the other two traveling companions further back into the camp next to what looked like a bunk house. The woman was in a cage, lying on the ground, the awkward angle of her back showing it to be broken. The monk was tied to the outside, barely moving and staring intently at his bandaged hand. The cloth around it fluttered violently.

He then looked back at Inuyasha "I don't know what you're talking about half breed, but once I am done with these pathetic beings, I shall gladly put you out of our misery and take Tetsuiga for myself."

The words caused Inuyasha and Kagome both too stare back in confusion. The corporal took his chance and fired and energy blast from his arm mounted cannon and a golden ball flew forward. In one smooth motion, Sesshomaru drew one of his swords, the Tokijin, and parried the attack; the swords evil aura surrounded it to deflect the energy away. He then disappeared and before the corporal knew what had happened the blade stuck through his chest, a voice whispering behind him.

"Only cowards attack their opponent when they are not looking." Sesshomaru said pulling the blade out of the man allowing him to fall with a thud. He flicked the sword downwards, throwing the blood off of it before placing it next to the scabbard katana in his belt.

The rest of the soldiers readied themselves to attack, but Jizu laughed. "Very good demon, but I wonder how you would fair against men like me, who can use their own energy and not rely on tools. Some men appeared out of the building at the rear of the camp; the 4 that had helped capture the group and joined Jizu at the center of the group.

Sesshomaru didn't respond but waited for them to make a move.

0-0-0-0-0

"He is pretty efficient isn't he?" Krillian commented from the tree line as the group watched the battle. Goku and Piccolo voiced their agreement and Vegeta had to silently agree. He had put down the three soldiers with apparent ease and skill that told of many battles.

"Trouble." 18 said calmly. They watched as 4 men joined their companions in the gathering of soldiers. Their power levels were much higher than the common soldiers.

"Those are the four that took Inuyasha and the others!" Shippo exclaimed.

Lennex narrowed his eyes. These were the people that were responsible for the condition of his friends. He worried about his new friends as they didn't look very good. And the treatment of Kagome had set him on edge.

"We need to do something and quick." He said. Vegeta nodded his agreement

"I have a plan," he said and motioned to Lennex and Shippo, "You two go out there and stall them for a moment, as I explain the plan to the others, and then introduce me so I may speak with them."

Lennex nodded and waved to Shippo. "Let's go!"

0-0-0-0-0

Sesshomaru could sense that these men were about ready to attack and considered transforming into his true form to handle the whole lot of them when movement behind him gathered all their attention. He turned his head slightly and noticed the final missing member to his brothers party and the stranger he met almost a year ago walking from the tree line.

"Looks like we are having a lot of visitors today." Jizu said as he pressed a button on his gauntlet. Those soldiers that had not come out to meet Sesshomaru abandoned their tasks at Jizu's calling and formed up to meet their guests. Their numbers not totaling almost 40 soldiers, not counting the 4 that lay dead on the ground

"It also looks like the fox that escaped has returned." Another man said.

Lennex ignored the soldiers banter and nodded to Kagome who had locked eyes with him the moment he appeared. He prayed that he gave her some hope by just being there, as he wasn't entirely sure what Vegeta had planned. He stopped next to Sesshomaru and said

"Fancy meeting you here oh mighty Sesshomaru."

The demon coolly clanked at Lennex but said nothing.

"Soldiers of the Kremon Alliance, My name is Lennex and I come before you to introduce someone who would like a word or two with you." Lennex spoke to the man facing off against him. He wanted to reassure Kagome and actually see to his friends, but he knew Vegeta knew what he was doing so he stuck to his assigned task.

"And just who would like to talk to us?" Jizu asked, puzzled that this stranger knew the name of their faction.

"I'm glad you asked that. He is a man of many successful campaigns. Someone who knows the true meaning of battle. A man to be feared to be sure." Lennex answered. "A person of such great importance that you will remember this day for the rest of your lives. He is someone who…"

"Get on with it before I lose my patience!" Jizu interrupted, tired of the delay. He wanted the blood of these invaders and he was tired of interruptions.

Lennex hoped that he had given Vegeta enough time for he saw no other way to stall. "I would like to introduce to you the prince of the Sayjin empire, Prince Vegeta!" his voice rose in timber as he spoke the name of his friend and hoped it was a good enough introduction to please Vegeta.

He turned and saw Vegeta walk out of the forest at a measured pace. Taking in the opposing soldiers as he walked towards them. Weaklings all of them especially to he and the rest of his group but he needed to make this look good. Timing was essential.

"What would Sayjins be doing in this star system? We thought star travel was beyond your pathetic knowledge." Jizu responded. He didn't like these little surprises and knew he should report it, but if he could capture a Sayjin and give him to their leader, he would be greatly rewarded.

"That doesn't concern you Commander Jizu, what does is the business proposition that I bring to you concerning this mud ball of a planet and the inhabitants it holds." Vegeta said, slipping back into his long unused "public" voice.

Jizu followed the prince's movements and then took stalk of the others as he came even with his friends. He was vastly outnumbered so he wasn't too worried. He noticed the little fox staring behind him at his prisoners. He tried to hold a brave face but he could see the worry in his gaze. He looked at the Price of Sayjins

"Well, Prince Vegeta, before we conduct new business, I would like a chance to finish some old business, namely the little fox. He evaded capture, and the two soldiers responsible for that mishap would like a chance to redeem themselves." He looked to two of his group,

"Reien, Basku, with the mighty princes approval, I want this fox dead."

Shippo looked sharply at Jizu at such a brazen command and heard Kagome gasp. She stood up quickly letting Inuyasha fall backwards a bit and shouted.

"No! You can't do that he's just a child!" she shouted stepping up to Jizu, all obedience gone from her visage.

The commander looked down his nose at the girl before grabbing her roughly by the arm.

"It is time you learned your place. Your little protests at your companions well being was amusing for a time, but now I grow weary of it." He roughly jerked her to one of his many solders.

"Take her somewhere and do what you please. Show her what it means to be subjugated by the Kremon alliance." He looked at Vegeta to see his reaction.

"Do what you will, I care not for the girl." Vegeta said sounding almost bored

The solider grinned and looked down at Kagome. "Run little rabbit, run!" he whispered to her.

Kagome looked to Lennex, real fear in her eyes. He nodded slightly, willing to the girl the message to take the soldiers advice and run. He wanted to save her now, but Vegeta made it clear what stance to take. He didn't like Vegeta very much at the moment.

While Kagome may have not gotten the message, the wounded Inuyasha did.

"RUN KAGOME!" he shouted as he struggled to stand and possible help out the woman he cared about.

His voice brought her to action and she took off towards the building. The solider kept on smiling and walked after her counting backwards quietly from five. Kagome made it to the entrance of the bunk house and looked inside. She was sure she could barricade herself in there but then she would be trapped so she did the next thing that came to her mind and take her out of his site and ran behind the building.

The soldier had reached zero and then picked up his speed, eating up the distance that separated him from his prey and disappearing behind the building. They heard Kagome gasp and the noise of struggle reached their ears. Some of the soldiers laughed and others grinned knowing what was about to happen. Some wondered what the young girl would sound like.

Their wonderment stopped as Vegeta raised his arm and let loose an energy blast, spearing one of the solders, and the man behind him, both falling dead with a fist sized whole through their bodies.

"I don't care what he does to the girl, but I want the rest of you paying attention to those who matter." Vegeta said. The enemy soldiers took the advice seriously.

The two hunters looked intently at Shippo waiting for their commander to order his execution when Vegeta spoke again.

"I grow tired of these interruptions. Let's get on with it before I lose my patience again with your idle amusements."

Basku and Reien toned down their gaze a bit. They were stronger then most of the grunts here, but still had not mastered ki manipulation. They did not want to anger the prince and feel his wrath.

Jizu smiled and replied. "Well then Vegeta, prince of the Sayjins. Let us talk before I lose any more men."

Lennex saw Vegeta nod in agreement while his thoughts were with the struggling girl out of site. He hoped Vegeta's plan was a damn good one, and happened very quickly, otherwise he would make sure his friend and master knew of his upset and anger. And whether the fight would turn ugly for the younger Sayjin, he would make sure Vegeta paid for any harm done to his new friends.

Kagome's fate, as well as the rest of the fallen warriors, would be answered, he supposed, in due time.

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_AN: what a horrible place to stop eh. I wanted to get to the next part in this chapter but as it stands already it's a little ways into its 13__th__ page. I shall try to whip out the next chapter so you won't have to wonder what happens to poor Kagome. A further note is another friend offered her assistance in reading and proofing my story. Lord knows I try but I'm too close to my writing to pick up everything. Hopefully after she gets caught up with my first story, you all will start seeing the benefits of a new beta. Until next chapter_


	6. Chapter 5: The Opening Round

Chapter 5: The Opening Round

While Jizu and Vegeta Began talking about how to divide the planet between the two factions, for that was what Vegeta wanted to talk about, Lennex's mind was firmly on Kagome's plight. The alien commander seemed surprised that Vegeta's opening statements were about conquering the planet for sale together and splitting the profit, but listened to the Prince with rapt attention. Lennex could hear Inuyasha's groans of pain and he kept trying get up to follow Kagome accompanied by Shippo's low growls and whines for his surrogate mother. In fact the only silent one was Sesshomaru who stood there with a bored expression on his face. Kagome had been out of view for only a couple minutes and the noise that was being made behind the building was to quiet for them to hear. He prayed for the young girl's safety and attempted to patiently wait while his master's plan came to fruition.

0-0-0-0-0

Kagome rounded the corner of the building and made to take off through the forest, not quite believing that Lennex and his friends would leave her to this fate but quickly pushed those thoughts aside. Her current situation was much more important. She almost made the tree line when she was tackled from behind.

"Now now love, you don't want to miss the fun do you?" the solider questioned her as he rolled her onto her back and straddled her.

Kagome tried to resist but solider chuckled and didn't budge an inch and he looked into her eyes.

"You are going to remember this for the rest of your life girl. Be honored." He laughed at the end of his comment and his eyes traversed down to the girl's chest.

Kagome had heard horror stories about this type of thing, and like a typical young girl from the 21st century; she always believed it could never happen to her.

'He can have my body, but he will never dominate my mind!' she thought to herself as she turned her eyes towards the forest, refusing to watch what he was about to do, but also refusing to close her eyes in submission. Her view however was not what she expected. Her minor struggles against the man on top of her ceased as she gazed at a yellow and black boot.

The solider on top of her was just reaching for her shirt when he felt the girl still. He thought she might put up more of a fight, he liked when they fought him but he guessed he was wrong. He looked at her face and saw that he wasn't the focus of her attention. He followed her gaze and saw the same yellow and black boot that she did. He quickly followed the boot and attached leg upwards until he gazed into the most ice blue eyes he had ever seen on a woman, and they looked extremely cold at the moment.

As he was bent over the girl he quickly tried to get his feet under him and raise his cannon arm to bear but the woman was too fast. She grabbed his arm with the cannon gauntlet and her other hand closed in over his mouth, ceasing his ability to make noise. The soldiers' eyes widened as she picked him up off the girl with little effort and brought him close to her face. Kagome quickly rolled out from underneath them and put her back against the building watching in bewilderment. She studied her savior and saw a very attractive blond woman in a white shirt and black vest, along with simple pants and the ever present yellow and black boots.

The woman spoke to the solider as she brought him mere inches from her face, "I don't tolerate scum like you who pick on defenseless girls." Her voice sounded bored, like she wasn't putting any emotion into her convictions, but her actions spoke louder than her words as she squeezed the soldiers' arm, shattering the cannon and bone at the same time. The solider tried to cry out but the hand over his mouth wouldn't allow it. The blonde woman quickly released the now broken appendage and with her free arm flattened her hand, fingers straight and next to each other forming a point. She then thrust her hand through the soldiers' chest, killing him on the spot.

She then took the dead man's helmet off and examined it for a moment, tossing the dead body a few feet away. After a moment she reached inside the helmet and ripped a small square box from the inside and pocketed it. She then looked at Kagome.

"In case you haven't figured it out yet, we are here to rescue you. Stick close to me and don't make a sound. My name is 18."

And with that brief introduction 18 quietly moved to the side of the building to peer around it. Kagome swallowed a couple of times before inching towards the woman, being careful not to make any noise, or to look at the body.

0-0-0-0-0

Lennex was getting impatient. Vegeta was talking circles after the first five minutes and he recognized it as a stalling maneuver. He wondered when Jizu would also make that realization. He kept glancing superstitiously at the building and wanting very badly to go after Kagome and her attacker. What little energy the man had been putting out it was gone now. Lennex could only figure he was too relaxed in what he was doing and it set his teeth to grinding. He couldn't believe Vegeta would let this happen he just…. He stopped in mid thought as a small lock of blond hair peeked around the corner of the building followed by a blue eye. When the first visual was made the rest of her head followed and Lennex could make out 18.

He was immediately happy and had to control himself not to start grinning like an idiot. Vegeta did have things planned out after all. He watched 18 look around and then looked towards Sango and Miroku's prison and nod. Lennex very carefully moved his gaze that direction and saw Krillian keeping low to the ground and moving up to the cage. Now Lennex realized what the plan was all about and silently berated himself for doubting Vegeta.

"As well you should, whelp." The voice of Vegeta sounded in his head.

Sayjins were borderline telepathic, and with concentration, they could project a thought into someone's head. Lennex grinned on the inside and kept watch on Krillian's progress, willing the small fighter to hurry.

0-0-0-0-0

"Easy, Krillian, your almost there. No one's watching you so there's nothing to worry about." The pint sized ex monk kept telling himself as he crept toward the crude cage and the tied up monk that sat outside it. Krillian kept one eye on his objective, and the other one on all the soldiers who were busy watching Vegeta, willing them to not turn around. If they did it would put a major monkey wrench into this plan. He kept the cage between himself and the group of enemies as much as he could but now came the tricky part. As he came to the back corner of the cage he slipped to the side and crept slowly towards Miroku.

"So far so good." He muttered to himself

He knelt at the corner of the cage and put his hand on Miroku's shoulder, hoping he wouldn't startle the monk into making a sound. He shouldn't have bothered. Miroku sat motionless, barley blinking and didn't seem to know Krillian was there even though he was touching him. Krillian edged forward a little to see the monk's blank stare focused upon the wrapped hand in his lap. The hand seemed to have an invisible wind seemed to be whipping the cloth around it this way and that with startling ferocity.

"That will be just my luck too if that thing goes off while I am right next to it," Krillian said shaking his head. If he didn't want that to happen he had better get a move on. "Listen buddy, I'm a friend of Lennex's and I'm here to help you and your friends, but you gotta cooperate with me. Its real simple you just have to chew this bean and swallow." He said holding up the small green bean.

When he didn't get a response or even a glance at the bean that was being waved in front of his face, Krillian knew he had his work cut out for him. A low moan drew his attention away from the inattentive monk to the girl behind him. She was a pretty young thing, Krillian decided, and he could see why the monk in front of him might be smitten with her. Her beauty would have been greater had there not been a curve in her spine that shouldn't be there. The pain she had to be in must have been excruciating and it was making her moan in pain. She let out another whimper as her body tried to move for more comfort and she paid for it. The good thing about that whimper however was that when it happened he felt Miroku's shoulder twitch just a bit under his hand.

"Well well, not as switched off as everyone thinks, are you pal?" Krillian said and leaned close to Miroku's ear so he could talk quietly without drawing attention from the Kremon soldiers.

"Listen, I know you're worried about going up in a blaze of wind here, and if that happens not only will you die, but you'll kill me, which I'm sure you're not too worried about, but you will also kill the girl here and I'm almost positive you don't want that. So if you want to save her, really save her, just chew this damn bean and she will be safe and sound before you know it."

Krillian let his words sink in and got the desired response. Miroku's head turned just a bit to focus on the hand in front of him and his mouth parted just a bit. That was good enough for Krillian and he quickly shoved the bean between Miroku's lips. He then got to work on the rope that tied him to the cage. It wasn't much of a security measure, but with the catatonic state the monk was in, it was really all that was needed. He snapped the rope with little effort, which was a blessing, since any more energy would have set off the scouters around him. Once he cleared the rope he looked around the monks head and saw life returning to it. The wind around his hand had stopped blowing.

He met Miroku's eyes and this time they were alert and had a question in them. Krillian cut that off quickly.

"We're here to help just stick close to me, were going to get the girl and move as fast as possible towards the guy in red on the ground over there. I'm guessing you'd like to carry her?"

Miroku nodded as he got his legs under him, a great feat as they had been motionless for hours. He did voice a question quietly. "Do you have another of those beans for her?"

Krillian checked the soldiers again before moving quietly around Miroku to the cage lock, examining it.

"No, you were the main threat since your injury could have killed anyone around you at any time. We have a way to heal her back at our hideout. Just don't let go of her when you get to your other friend. If you can, grab a hold of him too and don't let go. That's important." Krillian finished while staring at the lock. It looked simple enough. Just a normal key and bolt system, nothing very fancy about it. He wondered if maybe the aliens have found it already here in feudal Japan and were just using what they had available. He reached up and slowly pulled the door and watched the metal bar that was the lock bend and finally snap. The noise was almost nonexistent which he was grateful for. He opened the gate and motioned Miroku through. The monk slowly stood and went through the door towards Sango. Krillian turned his attention back to the soldiers one last time to make sure they had not been noticed. They were still watching Vegeta. This was going to work he decided.

He knew it was that sentence that destroyed the doomed, when almost all the soldiers turned as one to look at the cage. Krillian swallowed loudly. "Miroku, buddy, you better hurry up, there's been a change in plans."

0-0-0-0-0

"And with the division of the planet the way I have stated, we both become equally profited." Vegeta finished. Knowing that any smart negotiator would see through the smoke and mirrors and realize Vegeta had divided the majority of the planet in his favor. Jizu didn't disappoint.

"Your terms are unacceptable. It's clear you favor your kind and leave my faction the most work and little gain. In fact, this whole farce is getting tiresome. I want to know what you're really doing here. Last we checked, Sayjin do not have space travel capability, and I find it ludicrous that your even here." The commander spat, glaring at Vegeta.

The prince smirked to himself and readied another argument when he saw the left eye of every helmeted solider flash briefly with a text message. Almost as one the group turned around directly towards the cage, seeing the intruder who had opened it. Jizu turned a half second later after seeing the majority of his men turn around and stared in shock and bewilderment at the cage with the injured woman and the now seemingly healed man. The shorter third person was a complete mystery. He whipped around to face Vegeta. He wasted no more time on talk.

"Eliminate them all!" he shouted. His men were well trained and a second after the order was given they acted.

A sizable portion turned and headed for the would-be rescuer while the rest moved forward to Vegeta and his team

Vegeta met the charge head on, yelling over his shoulder, "Make sure the runt gets to his friends!" and then he disappeared into the enemy ranks.

Lennex rushed to Shippo's side as the two men who were so eager to kill the fox demon before were trying to do exactly that now. He grabbed an arm and used his strength to throw the solider like a rag doll. The second man reacted to his peer's attacker and fired point blank into Lennex's side. The energy blast stung more then Lennex thought it would and actually caused him to take a step backwards.

He grimaced to himself and raised his power level a bit more careful not to give away too much of his strength. The second solider moved in and swung at the young Sayjin's face, when the blow missed the solider let his momentum spin him around and he kicked out with his leg, catching Lennex in the face.

"You guys may not be very strong, but you do have some skill.' He commented as he used superior speed to breach the man's guard and hit him three times in the blink of an eye. The power of the attacks sent him tumbling backwards into two of his comrades. Lennex took that moment to give instructions.

"Shippo I'll clear you a path, you need to get to Inuyasha and get there quick."

The small fox nodded his understanding and Lennex took a quick look around. Vegeta had put down seven soldiers already and now was in the air fighting Jizu and one of his more advanced soldiers. He glanced to his left and saw that Sesshomaru was not to be left out of the fight and had taken a group of men for his own, using his demon speed and demon blade to put them to the ground permanently.

The Kremons that moved towards the cage raised their arms and fired their energy cannons at Krillian and Miroku. The small fighter leapt in front of the monk and batted the balls of light away as quickly as he could while Miroku picked up his wounded comrade. He also noticed 18 moving from behind the building to flank the group that was attacking her husband and that Kagome was hurrying towards Inuyasha. That was the last that he saw as three silver armored warriors were upon him.

"You guys are out of your league." The Sayjin commented to them as he bullied his way forward towards Inuyasha. The closer he got to his friend on the ground however the more soldiers got in his way. They were no match for him individually, and he treated them as such. Showing off his speed as they tried to hit him and he moved around their blows and calmly countered. He was beginning to enjoy himself.

That however was his undoing. The grunts suddenly started to work in unison, one would strike from the front and Lennex would dodge around the blow, right into another one that was launched simultaneously. A score of blows had knocked the young Sayjin for a spin before he realized the new tactics were being used against him.

He tried to back away and get some space, but these men were trained well against stronger warriors then themselves. The cocky attitude he had at the beginning of the fight was gone and he now was relying on reflex to try and find a way out of the mess he was in.

The quickest way was increase his power, maybe even to Super Sayjin, but he knew Vegeta wanted that kept secret for as long as possible. He tried an explosive wave, a technique that gathered his energy and exploded it outward forcing his attackers away, but these men must have seen this attack before and it only caught a few of them off guard.

Lennex would knock one away and two more would take the place, pummeling him with attacks. He was stronger alright but the numbers were pressing in on him. He was now officially worried.

He heard the noise to late as two cannons were fired into his back. The energy pitched him forward right into two legs that were swinging towards his face. The boots connected and the young Sayjin found himself flipping backwards and crashing onto his back, the force of the blow rolling him into a reverse somersault and he tumbled onto his stomach. He looked up at the now nine Kremon grunts that had been tag teaming him.

"Guess this is the wrong time to ask for a fair fight eh?" he asked hoping the comment would buy him a little time to figure a way out when all nine men pointed their weapons at him. The ends of the cannons glowed red.

"Guess not." He readied himself to leap into the air when two energy blasts impacted the ground throwing the soldiers away. Lennex felt someone grab him by his armors neck plate and haul him off the ground. He was then face to face with Piccolo, and the Namek didn't look happy.

"If you're through showing off, perhaps you'd like to join this fight seriously. Pick an opponent and finish him off quick and fast. Superior power isn't always stronger then numbers. And we have a lot more numbers then we thought."

Lennex followed the Namek's eyes as they glanced towards the sky, and Lennex saw two large air cars moving into potion over the clearing. Doors on either side opened and more soldiers leapt out onto the ground, some of the stronger ones stayed in the air under their own power, looking for the best way to put down their opposition. The regular grunts hit the ground and moved to reinforce their brethren. A sea of sliver armored bodies quickly surrounded the two fighters and Lennex realized this was a brand new fight, one he had little experience with.

Most of his fights were one on one and they left him ill prepared for this mass assault. He looked at Piccolo and nodded to his other teacher and readied himself for the coming battle as more then twenty soldiers moved towards them at once.

This was no longer a skirmish, he decided as he chose the closest Kremon guard and hit him as hard and fast as he could putting him out of the fight and moved to the next man in his way.

It was the opening battle of a war.

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_A/N: Well this wasn't really were I planned on ending this chapter but I figured it would be to long if I finished what I wanted to do so once again I shall split it into another chapter. My original plan was to have the contents of the last chapter, this chap, and the next be one, but apparently I had a lot more to say then I thought concerning this scene of the story. I hope everyone is enjoying and the next chapter hopefully won't take as long, but I am starting a new job this week, so it might take away some of my writing time. Thanks to Benny45 for the continuing support and to really-likes-noodles for adding the story to their alert list. I appreciate it. As always read and review and we shall see you next chapter._


	7. Chapter 6: Opening Salvo

Opening Salvo

Tetsusaiga

Shippo's eyes were wide as he took in the numerous silver bodied warriors that were now around him. Luckily his size was still small enough that they paid him scant attention so he was able to close the distance to Inuyasha with little trouble. He sniffed when he arrived at his side and his nose quickly filled with the stench of the half demon's blood. His nose filtered through the seriousness of the injuries and even though it had only been hours, the wounds were starting to smell of infection. He hoped they could get him out of here soon so that his demon blood could start to heal without being constantly aggravated by his captors.

The young fox glanced around again to make sure the Kremon soldiers still weren't paying attention to them and once again was amazed by the numbers. They were everywhere, silver armor reflecting the mid day sun, causing bright flashes to fill the meadow.

However, not all the flashes were caused by light reflection. Shippo's eyes happened to be looking in the right direction to see three soldiers flung upward into the sky by a small explosion, and the green form of the Namek, Piccolo quickly following them. The Namek's movement however was controlled unlike his enemies and he quickly dealt blows that sent them hurtling into their comrades below. The green alien quickly went to the ground disappearing to find another opponent.

Shippo felt Lennex in that area too and could catch the occasional glimpse of him as bodies shifted and moved. It looked like the young Sayjin's face was warring with two different expressions, one of concentration in fighting so many opponents at once, and pure enjoyment for the same reason. Leave it to Sayjin battle lust.

A green flash a few feet away drew Shippo's attention as he watched Sesshomaru unleash his swords most powerful attack. The green energy flew from the sword into multiple bodies, cutting through armor and then flesh with ease.

A noise from behind him made him quickly spin around, fox fire surrounding his fists, but that fire quickly died out as he saw the noise was made my Kagome as she skidded to a stop on the other side of Inuyasha's prone body, dropping to her knees. In her arms she held the sheathed Tetsusaiga. Their enemy must not have paid the girl any more attention then they had him if she was able to make it to where they were and pick up the sword along the way. And why should they when they had much more powerful foes to deal with.

"Are you ok, Shippo?" she question as her hands quickly probed Inuyasha's body for any more injuries that may have incurred since her last inspection.

"Don't worry about me," The young fox replied "I'm a demon, much stronger then you humans."

His bravado brought a small smile to the young woman's lips as she finally glanced up at him.

"I am sorry for underestimating you Shippo, I won't do it again." She replied stroking the kits ego as her hands came away from Inuyasha's side with blood on them, causing her to loose the brief smile she had just moments ago.

"The wound on his side has reopened again, we have to get him out of here but I was told we had to stay right here." She said as she looked around at the battle behind Shippo and Inuyasha.

Shippo did the same gazing towards his other two friends as they attempted to make their way to them. Miroku was still carrying the wounded Sango through the throng of Kremon guards and every time one of them tried to impede his progress, Krillian or his wife, 18, was there to nullify the threat. Their speed and teamwork was exciting to see.

"I see how you made it over here without any problems." Shippo said to the raven haired woman.

Kagome glanced over her shoulder at what the kit was referring too and nodded slightly, still concerned with her wounded companion, she continued to probe the injuries he had sustained.

The brief reprieve however was interrupted when two Kremon soldiers dropped from the sky and landed next to them.

Kagome tried to unsheathe the Tetsusaiga, the only weapon she had available to her, but the closest man swiped the sword from her hands, knocking the weapon to the ground. Shippo's hands ignited with his signature fox fire as he hurled a ball of flame into the face of Kagome's attacker. The man grabbed at his face, trying to dispel the fire as quick as possible, and leaving Kagome a moment of time to pick up the fallen sword.

Shippo grinned at his heroics, but the feeling was lost as the second man, seemingly forgotten, kicked the small demon in the back. The force of the blow sent Shippo flying over the prone Inuyasha and into Kagome, causing her to once again drop Tetsusaiga, as they both fell to the ground in a tangle of arms and legs. When they separated themselves from each other and sat up, it was to find the two soldiers standing over them. Almost as one the two men raised their silver garbed arms and a glowing ball of energy formed into their outstretched palms.

Kagome's hand quickly found Shippo's and she prayed this wouldn't be their last moment together

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Lennex was slowly getting the hang of fighting so many enemies at once. Before he had always concentrated on trying to outthink his opponent. To be one step ahead, to anticipate what moves or techniques would be used against him and how to counter those moves. But those were one on one fights, and this was completely different. The time for thinking was not present and it as pure instinct for the most part. The only tactic was hit hard and fast, and to make sure those hits took the opponent out of the fight as quickly as possible, before the next foe in line showed up, and from what the young sayjin could see, the line was long indeed. He and Piccolo had been dropping armored bodies left and right and they were just barely keeping from being overwhelmed, and the young sayjin found it exciting to say the least.

He could hear battle all around him, could feel Vegeta above him in the air, Piccolo beside him, and the demon Sesshomaru behind them. From across the clearing he could sense Krillian, and he assumed 18 would be there around her husband, as she had no detectable ki. During his search for his companions ki's he took advantage of his opponents meager defense and drove his fist through the chest armor of the solider, opening his palm inside the warrior and letting out a small ki blast, killing him on the spot.

He quickly pulled his hand from the body and spun around, kicking the corpse hard, sending it flying into incoming soldiers, slowing their advance.

"Are we having fun yet?" he asked the Namek beside him with a smile as he blocked six incoming blows.

Piccolo snorted as he watched his one time student retaliate to the attack before replying. "I will never understand Sayjins."

Lennex grinned as he kicked at a rushing attacker. "You know you love us."

The kick carried the solider into his comrades knocking them down into a heap and clearing Lennex's view. What he saw wiped the smile from his face.

"Kagome, Shippo. No!" he shouted as he watched two Kremon solders raise their arms, preparing to fire ki blasts at his friends. He tried to leap into the air, prepared to fly to their rescue, when Piccolo quickly grabbed the neck plate of his armor, hauling him back to the ground.

"No," the Namek said grabbing the first of a solider who sought to capitalize on Piccolo's inattention, and squeezing until the bones broke, "you stay here with me and protect my back, your friends are fine."

Lennex learned over the years to no argue with the Namek and continued to fight back to back, looking back to his friends who were in trouble and soon saw what Piccolo was talking about. There was a reason to not argue with Piccolo, and the smile he had earlier was back on his face.

0-0-0-0-0

Kagome and Shippo glared up at the two, Shippo quickly gathering his energy to form a shield and he hoped he could withstand two point blank shots. The question became mute as an orange clad figure appeared between the two men, grabbing their arms pointing them skyward just as they fired. The energy balls soared into the sky harmlessly as the two looked in surprise at the man between them. Goku smiled back at them, quickly dropping their arms. Before the soldiers or even gravity could take effect on their arms Goku stuck both arms out in front of his body and quickly swung them backwards, connecting with each man's chest plate. The armor shattered under the blow and sent both bodies flying away. Goku looked down at the two on the ground.

"Yo." He said as he offered his hand to Kagome to help her up.

0-0-0-0-0

Krillian shook his head at his friend's simple greeting after the impromptu rescue. He could see Goku was happy now that he was in the fight. The earth raised Sayjin didn't like being left out of the main fight, but Vegeta had explained his role in the plan and Goku had agreed to stay out of the fight unless it was absolutely necessary he enter it. And now he had that reason and he continued to fend off soldiers that got too close to the man garbed in red on the ground and his companions. A man who Krillian was trying to get his own charges too. A task that wasn't being made easy for the short man, as Kremon after Kremon continued to get in his way. He and his wife were making slow but steady progress, keeping the young monk and the woman in his arms safe from attack. They moved fast in a revolving circle around Miroku, kicking, punching and blasting enemies away.

Krillian took a moment to look at his beautiful but deadly wife and spoke.

"Well honey, I promised you all the bad guys you wanted. Can I deliver or can't I."

He saw her lip twitch in a smirk before he face blanked as she killed another Kremon that tried to attack her. He blocked an attack aimed for his head, and flipped the offender over his shoulder and onto the ground. Krillian then drove his knee into the grounded man's face, hearing the crunch of the breaking helmet, and the nose bone underneath.

His wife quickly jumped forward into a mass of Kremon guards that were blocking their path, disappearing in the sea of sliver bodies. Krillian watched in anticipation at what 18 could be doing and then he heard her call out an attack.

"Energy Blitz!"

After the words were spoken and azure sphere of energy expanded from her body and anything that it touched was flown away, feeling as if it had been electrocuted. The sphere expanded in perfect two meter radius from her body, effectively clearing a path to their goal.

Krillian smiled and ushered Miroku forward, taking up a rear guard position. As the monk passed Krillian spoke.

"When you get there make sure everyone is holding onto each other and yell out that you're ready."

Miroku nodded his understanding and hurried forward. Krillian blocked a punch and simultaneous kick that two solders tried to hit him with and countered his attackers, keeping track of Miroku's progress.

"Not much longer now." He thought.

0-0-0-0-0

So far everything was working the way Vegeta had wanted it to. He calmly blocked the punches and kicks that the Kremon commander, Jizu and the men that had joined him in the air with ease. Compared to his men, Jizu was a commander for a reason, his power and skill far surpassed the grunts, but compared to Vegeta, they might as well have been the 3rd string lineup.

Weak opponents however gave the Sayjin prince a chance to observe his opposition. The Kremon alliance was living up to the reputation he had read about. Their tactics and fighting abilities was top notch, and their team work was impressive. Had they any power to back that up, Vegeta might have been worried. It also gave him a chance to observe the progress of his allies. Other than his idiot students mistake at the beginning of the battle, everything was going smoothly. Everyone was following their part f the plan and the second phase was about ready to begin.

Only two people were unaware of what the second phase was. Lennex would be easy to clue in; the demon lord Sesshomaru however was a wild card in Vegeta's whole operation. He would hardly care about the outsider, but at this stage of the conflict, the tactician in Vegeta did not want to waste any potential resources so early in the game, so he made an executive decision. He focused on his opponents and shot forward between the two soldiers that were trying to flank him and stopped right in front of Jizu.

The Kremon commander's eyes widened in surprise to have his enemy so close, so quickly and before he could react, Vegeta had placed both of his palms on the commander's stomach. A giant ball of energy shot out from those palms and quickly engulfed the commander. The ball wasn't to be deadly to the commander, for Vegeta wanted him to be able to report this altercation, but it did carry him away from Vegeta and the battlefield.

His two warriors however were not so lucky as Vegeta spun back to them and casually shot an energy blast from both hands, one for each solider. The energy lanced out and pierced both soldiers in the chest, killing them instantly. As the bodies fell to the ground Vegeta used his speed to rocket towards the ground landing beside the demon, watching as the white haired creature pulled his broadsword out of a dead soldier's stomach and his eyes searched out another opponent before glancing towards Vegeta. The Sayjin prince regarded the demon lord's killer instinct and was impressed. This was a man of few words that got things done, like Vegeta himself.

"Since you provided a distraction for us, I'll clue you in. In a matter of minutes we won't be here anymore, so if you don't want to get overrun, you'll leave."

The demons eyes grew cold and narrowed as he replied back to the warning.

"This Sesshomaru does not run, nor does he fear these weaklings."

At that moment a warrior tried to get the drop on the white haired demon and received Tokijin to the gut for his trouble.

Vegeta smirked again at the site, taking in the grace of this man's movements as he dispatched an enemy. He lifted off into the air and called back.

"Perhaps it wasn't you I was worried about, but those that may depend on you that are close. When we leave they will scour this area looking for us." And with that Vegeta turned back to the sky, seeing that Jizu had finally nullified the beam of energy that carried him away and was flying towards Vegeta, this time with five other men at his back.

Vegeta glanced back towards the ground and silently chuckled to himself at the utter disgust on Sesshomaru's face. The disgust that Vegeta was right. The tall demon quickly glowed a soft white before shrinking into himself, forming a ball of energy that rocketed away from the battlefield.

Vegeta had just enough time to glance down to the center of the battlefield before Jizu and his men were upon him.

Almost time now.

0-0-0-0

Kagome quickly gathered Inuyasha into her lap after her attackers were defeated by Goku, Shippo taking up guard at her side. She cradled the Tetsusaiga against his chest as she quickly glanced around at the chaos of battle. Goku stayed close to them, defending them from any attacker that got too close. A noise drew her attention to her left side and she tensed as she turned to face it. When she saw what made the noise the tension lessened but didn't go away. It was Miroku skidding to a stop beside her from a dead run, the wounded Sango cradled in his arms. Kagome took note of the girls pale skin color and the anguish of pain written all over her face. She had yet to regain conscious, but every so often a whimper of pain would escape her lips.

Miroku dropped to his knees, trying his best not to jar his wounded friend.

"Lady Kagome," he greeted as he adjusted Sango, trying to comfort her as best he could, "our friends say we should hold on to each other."

Kagome nodded, 18 having told her the same thing and looked to Shippo and nodded. The young kit nodded back and quickly got between the two groups kneeling on the ground and grabbed each of them on the shoulder. With Shippo acting as a bridge, the five of them were now connected.

"I got the both of you!" Shippo exclaimed, tightening his hold.

After hearing that, Kagome tilted her head back and shouted. "We're ready!"

Only she wasn't sure what they were ready for. She turned to the monk and by the look in his eyes; he was just as clueless as she.

They didn't wait long to find out, however as Goku was beside them. He reached down and grasped Miroku's free shoulder and put his other hand up towards his face, pointing two fingers to his forehead, a look of concentration on his face. Kagome had a few seconds to ponder this action when her sight went dark.

0-0-0-0

Lennex and Piccolo watched Goku perform the instant transmission from where they were fighting their group of warriors. The six individuals disappeared from the ground leaving and empty meadow floor behind. The Kremon soldiers were puzzled but turned their attention to those enemies still around. Lennex smiled to himself, knowing that the technique Goku used had teleported himself, and anyone he was touching and they were touching, to wherever Goku wanted. In this case, back to their cave hidden headquarters.

"Mission Complete," the shout came from the air and Lennex glanced up at the speaker, "let's get out of here!" Vegeta roared, backhanding Jizu across the face, sending him to the ground. Vegeta didn't bother with the other solders in the air around him and he rocketed away. Piccolo and Lennex leapt into the air, energy auras surrounding them as they powered up and followed Vegeta, moving so fast that they left a contrail in their wake. From across the battlefield Krillian and 18 did the same.

Those that could fly in the Kremon battle group took to the air to follow, and those that couldn't raised their arm cannons and fired. The five fighters from the future wove through the air around the blasts as best they could, Lennex and Krillian taking minor hits leaving singed clothing and burned skin at the impact sites, before they were clear of the meadow.

Lennex flew on pulling up beside Vegeta before looking backwards. He saw twenty or more Kremon commandos following them, and the silver troop carrier lifting off from the meadow floor, turning to pursue them.

"We have company!" he shouted to the prince.

Vegeta glanced over to him and grunted. "Fly faster." Was the only response given.

Energy blasts started whizzing by their bodies as the soldiers behind them fired, hoping for a lucky shot. Vegeta dove towards the tree tops and the others followed, the blasts that missed them fell into the trees, destroying any that were hit.

"Should we split up?" Lennex asked as he caught up to Vegeta once again. The prince shook his head.

"Stay close, it shouldn't be too much longer and you don't want to be separated from us when the time comes."

And the time came. Goku reappeared a few hundred feet in front of them, his hand still pointing to his forehead as he reached out with his other arm. Krillian and 18 clustered to Vegeta's left side as Lennex and piccolo went to his right. Krillian and Lennex grabbed onto Vegeta's shoulders, while piccolo grabbed Lennex's and 18 Krillian's. They closed the distance quickly and Vegeta reached out, clasping Goku's outstretched hand. The moment the orange clad Sayjin felt the contact he concentrated on the base he had just come from. In those few seconds three things had happened. The five fleeing warriors had come to a full stop so as not to ram into Goku, Vegeta had turned his head to face the pursuers, Jizu being in the lead of that group, and smirked at the commander, and Goku performed the technique, whisking them away to safety.

Jizu cursed as the six people who had given his battle group so much trouble disappeared. He clicked his scouter, looking for traces of their energy and found nothing, his men doing the same, but Jizu knew it was futile. He ordered his men back to the camp to take care of their dead, injured, and repairs to said camp. He glanced back to the spot where his prey had disappeared and then followed suit. His main thought being that lord Arcus was not going to be happy with his failure.

0-0-0-0-0

When Kagome's sight returned to her, she noticed that she was inside a modern looking facility, with modern technology. She glanced around the room and recognized the two teal haired women approaching them as Bra and Bulma Briefs. The two women wasted no time as Bulma instructed Miroku to take Sango over to one of two large tanks in the room. Goku, seeing everything being handled put his fingers back to his forehead and disappeared.

Bra knelt next to Kagome and lifted the wounded Inuyasha from her arms, turning and walking towards the second tank, Shippo trailing her as he was curious at the tanks functions. Kagome stood also curious but the last days events were suddenly catching up to her as she realized they were now safe. The shock of that and prior events stayed her feet and she continued to watch her friends walk away. Even though it was only to the other side of the room, it almost felt like Kagome was being left alone. And in a way she was alone, with nothing but her thoughts and the still sheathed Tetsusaiga she held loosely in her left hand.

That's when the hand gently touched her shoulder. Kagome turned towards the touch and she gazed into a pair of eyes that looked so very much like her own. She instantly embraced the woman that owned those eyes, tears streaming from her own as she uttered one word.

"Mama!"


	8. Chapter 7: Recovery

_A/N: Wow it has been a while. Sorry about that to all who follow. Work has kept me pretty busy and life and whatnot but here is the next chapter. Hopefully i will update sooner as i do have the outline all mapped out just got to write it. anyhow enjoy reviews welcome._

Quiet.

The silence was welcomed by the young woman who gazed out the picture window and the blackness that lay beyond. It was to be expected as the building she was in lay inside a giant cavern. The structure was brought back to Feudal Japan by her friends from modern Japan, her time era to be exact. She continued to stare into the void of the window, lost in her thoughts of the previous day.

To the confrontation with the then unknown soldiers, that she now knew belonged to the Kremon Alliance. The utter failure of that fight that led to the capture and injuries of her and her friends. The hours that followed were filled with fear and sorrow, more so for her companions, not herself. Miroku's catatonic state and the fear of his wind tunnel ripping open and killing himself and the injured Sango. Poor Sango was the reason Miroku was in the state he was in. He knew he could die at any moment and his captors were forcing his proximity to the woman he cared so much about. The young woman lay in the cage she was placed in, moaning in pain due to the broken back she received in the fight, unaware of the danger she lay in.

Then there was Inuyasha. The proud half demon never stopped trying to fight for all of them, and he received beatings for every outburst, every cross look, and ever defiant act against their captors. She also feared for Shippo's welfare as the young demon had fled at Inuyasha's request to find help. That was the last she had seen of him until he reappeared hours later with Lennex, the security officer of Capsule Corporation, and one of their newest friends. He was one of the last people she expected to see, and the surprises kept coming when Vegeta revealed himself.

Her thoughts raced as she relived the chase through the prison camp and the surrounding forest as one of the guards chased her for sport, intent on unsavory things. The shock of being rescued by the blond android and the appearance of other rescuers and the battle that ensued. The events blurred by until the one called Goku somehow teleported them all away from the battle and to the structure she now stood in. The surprises continued as she found her mother there, and with a glance the young woman had fallen into her arms and cried the frustration and fear of the day's events in the comforting embrace.

Time had passed and night had fallen, and even though her mother insisted that she get some rest, she just couldn't switch off her mind. She wandered the complex, being careful not to disturb those who were sleeping or otherwise preoccupied. She knew the tall green warrior named Piccolo wasn't around as he had left soon after the group returned, to scout out the enemy forces. She explored and ultimately ended up in this room. As no one was around the overhead lights were turned off and Kagome hadn't bothered to turn them on, the darkness putting her mind at ease.

She caught her reflection in the window from the only source of light in the room, the regeneration tanks. Those with superficial injuries had bandaged their wounds and went their own ways for the evening. Inuyasha and Sango were another story. Their injuries were so severe that they were stripped down and placed in shorts, and in Sango's case a sports bra to preserve modesty and put into the tanks. The oxygen masks were quickly placed on their faces and submerged into the healing fluids that would speed recuperation exponentially. She turned away from the window to give the tank's occupants closer inspection. Her eyes fell upon Sango's tank first and a small smile graced her lips. The woman in question was at peace and her face wasn't in an expression of constant pain or agony. Her smile grew even more as she noticed the huddled form beside the tank. Whether due to the low lighting or being lost in her own thoughts, she failed to notice Miroku curled against the tanks outer wall asleep.

She knelt down and brushed a stray lock of hair away from his face and considered Sango a lucky woman to have a man like Miroku who refused to leave her side. She stood again and placed herself in front of the other tank and looked in at Inuyasha. The young half demon floated inside, his fuzzy triangle ears twitched now and again, and she hoped he wouldn't have any problems with them being underwater for so long.

She took in the sight of his bare torso and the smooth skin and definition almost turned her into a normal hormonal high school girl, but the logical side of her being asserted itself and she started noticing that the bruises, cuts and abrasions had disappeared from his body. A testament to both the regeneration tanks abilities and his demon blood. She placed her hand against the glass of the tanks viewport and leaned in to rest her head against it. She closed her eyes and willed Inuyasha to feel her presence so he would know she was still by his side.

It may have been scant seconds, or long drawn out minutes but she was startled out of her reverie by a vibration she felt under her hand. She opened her eyes and saw his hand pressed against the glass from the other side, the thin layer of glass the only thing keeping their hands apart. She looked up at his face and locked eyes with his golden orbs. they stared at each other before he started to take in his surroundings. His eyes finally rested on the mask on his face and narrowed. He looked up at her again and it didn't take her long to find the meaning in the gaze. He wanted out.

She quickly went to the control panel and tried to make heads or tails of the display, rows of buttons, and switches that were located on it. She searched for any clear markings to release him from the tank but was quickly finding out that, while the technology came from her time period, she didn't understand it one bit. She looked back up at Inuyasha and shrugged her shoulders a bit, using her body language to tell him of her findings. His eyes narrowed at the gesture and held his hand up, flexing his claws in a gesture of his own. She quickly looked back at the monitor and willed something to stand out to her so she didn't have to explain a destroyed piece of equipment to Bulma. Her hope had almost run out when a hand snaked around her side and hit a few of the buttons in a seemingly random sequence.

She turned her body, as she heard the tank start to drain, to come face to face with Bra Briefs, the young female half Sayjin that came back with Lennex and the others to help them out.

"How did...?" Kagome started before Bra held up a flat electronic pad.

"Remote Monitoring," she replied waving the display module, "It was my shift to monitor and this let me know that our friend here was awake. Most first timers don't like waking up under water so I hurried down."

Kagome nodded and turned back to Inuyasha, willing the tank to drain faster so she could talk to him. Bra retrieved a towel and Inuyasha's fire rat robe and set them on the counter next to the tank.

"I will leave these things here for you, I'm sure he will want his clothes back, amazing things really, it looks like they repaired themselves. These demons sure know how to make their clothing." she said in idle chatter. When she received no response she looked back and found the two locking eyes through the tanks display.

"And I'm going to just let you two get reacquainted..." Bra said as she started to walk out of the room, a silly grin on her face. 'ah young love' she thought to herself

Kagome was aware the female half Sayjin had tried to talk to her but she just wanted to make sure Inuyasha was ok. In a few minutes the tank was finally empty and the hatch rose. She grabbed the towel and walked up to her friend.

"Inuyasha, I was so worried..." she was cut off when the half demon grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her into a fierce hug. She might have been upset any other time for him soaking her by proxy, but not this time. She hugged him back, enjoying the feel of his damp skin under her hands. She tried to speak again but he stopped her.

"You shouldn't worry about me Kagome, I can take care of myself," the usual sting to those words were vacant and she smiled into his chest, "besides, I was worried about you. When that solider chased you from camp and I couldn't do anything... I couldn't bare to lose you Kagome, you mean to much to me!" he said.

She leaned back and looked up at him her smile fading as he started to lean forward. Her body reacted and she meant to meet him halfway as her eyes fluttered closed. As Inuyasha drew near he was able to finally catch her scent. his sense of smell was diluted due to the chemicals of the water he was recently submerged in. It was due to that, or his proximity to Kagome that probably kept him from catching the other scent in the room. A voice spoke out of the darkness just before their lips meant, stopping the kiss.

"Why, Inuyasha, that has to be the most romantic thing you have ever said to lady Kagome." Miroku said grinning ear to ear from his seated position on the floor. Kagome blushed, and Inuyasha leaned away from her, both turning to look at the monk.

"By all means, don't stop on my account." Miroku chuckled, waving his hands for them to continue. To his and Kagome's shock, Inuyasha turned and pulled her into a kiss. It lasted far too short for Kagome's liking but when he pulled away he said "Not the kiss I intended, but I have to kill a monk."

He gently pushed Kagome away and climbed out of the tank, stalking towards Miroku, who quickly stood up.

"Now Inuyasha, it's not proper to be running around in so little clothing," He said indicating the shorts the half demon was wearing. He quickly dodged to the side as Inuyasha struck out. Miroku quickly got to his face and backpedaled towards the door

"Inuyasha please, people are sleeping!" he tried again as he dodged another strike and ran from the half demon who wasted no time giving chase. Kagome knew she should fear the repercussions of the two waking everyone up, but she couldn't stop smiling and feeling the lingering touch of Inuyasha's lips on her own.

0-0-0-0

Hours later, Kagome was back in the regeneration room waiting to let Sango out of her tank. She had left the room only to try and prevent Inuyasha and Miroku from making too much noise in their exploits, a task she failed at horribly. Once Inuyasha had gotten a hold of the monk he had slammed his body into the wall forcefully with one arm, while raising his free clawed hand in a gesture of punishment. That was as far as Inuyasha had got when the door next to the wall opened and a very irate Vegeta stuck his head out. After a lengthy lecture and a few bruises later, the prince went back into the room he shared with Bulma and let the two back to their own devices. the rest of the night was spent in relative peace, although Miroku was promised more punishment when time allowed.

Kagome and her two companions planned on returning to Sango's side but they found their feet following the leftover smell of a forgotten dinner and wound up in the kitchen of the home. they raided the leftovers suddenly remembering they had not eaten in almost a day and were ravenous. After the impromptu meal the three wandered back to take silent vigil of their friend and now the moment had arrived.

Kagome stood behind her mother and Bra, who were looking at the various readouts of the machine. Inuyasha and Miroku however were being marched forcefully outside the room by Bulma, who still had not forgiven them for interrupting her time with Vegeta, stating they could see Sango after she was properly dressed. Both tried to argue that they'd already seen what Sango was garbed in, but the blue haired genius was having none of it.

Kagome turned her attention back to her mother and the readouts. The display showed the two what they wanted to see and they initiated the sequence to drain the tank. Sango's eyes were just fluttering open as the water level was down around her shoulders. Her eyes look alarmed as she stared out through the glass but started to calm when she recognized those who stood outside. Her eyes found Kagome's and the last trace of fear fled from them.

The water finished draining and the top hatch unsealed letting the exterminator catch her first breath of fresh air. Bra gently took the mask off the girls face and Mrs. Higarashi held out a towel and steadying hand helping her step from the tank. When they were sure she wouldn't fall over they backed away draping the towel over her shoulders.

Kagome moved forward and enveloped her friend in a hug. Sango wrapped and arm around the girl from the future, while using the other to keep the towel in place. Kagome brought her up to speed on all that happened since the fight in the forest as Sango donned her traveling kimono, eyeing the repair work she would have to do to her exterminators outfit as she listened. She felt pride fill her heart when she heard about Shippo's trip to the future to bring back the rescue party. The four of them were raising a very strong and honorable young demon. Sango finished dressing and looked towards the others in the room.

"So what do we do now?" She asked as the door to the room opened. Bulma, who stood next to it turned to meet Lennex's eyes as he walked in, Inuyasha and Miroku behind him, the latter two quickly moved around him and went to Sango's side. Miroku grabbed her and held her close, this time his hands staying in an appropriate place. Inuyasha smiled at her from over the monks shoulder.

Lennex grinned at his friends while speaking. "That my dear Sango, is what we are going to discuss next. Piccolo has returned from scouting and it's time to outline a strategy."

0-0-0-0

They walked into the central room on the main floor of the capsule house. It was large enough to accommodate both groups comfortably. As Lennex lead the group from the medical facilities they were able to see that the rest of the group had assembled for the strategy session. Vegeta stood against one of the walls of the room, his arms crossed and his eyes closed, but Lennex would have bet a million zeni he knew everything that was happening around him.

Goku had positioned himself on one of the rooms chairs sitting backwards style, leaning his arms across the back of the chair and his chin resting on them as he waited as patiently as he could. Krillian and 18 sat on a sofa opposite Goku and quietly held hands while Shippo sat nervously next to them. Kagome started for the young kit, walking around Lennex curious as to why he was so agitated. When she made it around Lennex's body and had a clear view of the entire room she found the source of the kits worry.

Sometime during the night or perhaps while they were all waiting for Sango to get out of the regen tank, Piccolo had returned from his scouting expedition and had brought a guest. The golden eyes that were an almost match for Inuyasha's swiveled in her direction for a brief second before turning away in dismissal as Sesshomaru stood as still as a statue next to the green warrior from the future.

"Keh, I thought I smelled something rank in the air!" Inuyasha bit out as he went to stand next to Kagome, Sango and Miroku taking up positions next to them. Sesshomaru's eyes narrowed as he regarded his brother

"It is any wonder your mongrel nose can differentiate any scent beyond your own stink, half-breed." he replied evenly

Inuyasha growled his hands falling on the hilt of his sword as he prepared to send Sesshomaru and his attitude straight to hell. The demon lord remained immobile but a sickly green aura surround his only hand. The rest of the room that didn't know the two intimately looked on in quiet surprise as the two half brothers squared off.

Kagome started to put a hand on Inuyasha's shoulder to attempt to calm him when a one word command sliced through the silence of the now tense room

"ENOUGH!"

Both sets of golden orbs in the room looked towards the speaker as did everyone else towards Vegeta. The Sayjin prince had not moved an inch but his eyes were now open and regarding the pair

"I thought our enemies were the Kremon Alliance, not each other, I'm here to fight a worthwhile enemy, the two of you can kill each other after I obtain my goal." he said in a hard voice conveying a swift and brutal punishment to all who stood in his way.

Sesshomaru regarded the short warrior for a moment before dismissing him and his half brother while Kagome took Inuyasha by the arm and steered him towards the far side of the room away from his half brother.

After everyone was settled into the room Piccolo stepped forward.

"I think we are going to have our work cut out for us on this one. During the night I snuck back to where we had our skirmish. The outpost was abandon but I was able to follow the energy signatures of some of the more powerful fighters to another location. How would Gohan put it, if I was a gambling man I would assume this is their main Staging area."

Krillian grinned at the Namek who had successfully used a human turn of phrase correctly "Not that I doubt your intuition but what's so special about this camp?" he asked

"The fact there were three cruisers on the ground. All a little larger than the one Frieza had on Namek, and that there were a few hundred of those silver armored soldiers scurrying about."

The short ex-monk smile fell off his face. "Great. On Namek we just had to worry about a few dozen, and your saying we have ten times the amount."

"Wrong again little man," Vegeta said pushing off the wall "Frieza had a character flaw when it came to his mode of transport. the compliment of that vessel was around one fifty strong. He hardly took more than his retainers and a token squad of soldiers primarily because no one could stand up to him. He could have taken smaller vessels for that many people but nothing but the larger capital ships would do for him. The ones that the Namek is talking about hold at least three hundred or more. And that's just the ones on the ground."

"The ground?" Goku piped up for the first time a look of confusion on his face. Vegeta sighed as he looked towards the heavens. Lennex spoke up to halt a potential conflict

"Simple Military tactics Goku, Never put all your resources grouped together."

Goku nodded although the confusion hadn't completely left his face.

"Correct," Vegeta continued "while those three are on the ground, who knows how many are above us in an over watch position."

"One."

All eyes swiveled to the corner of the room were Bulma sat tapping on a computer pad after a couple presses and holographic map came to life of the surrounding area. The group from the past all jumped and tried to step back away. Sesshomaru held his ground, his eyes the only thing to relay the surprise of the phenomenon

"Sorry," Bulma said to the group before turning back to the map "During the battle yesterday, 18 had the foresight to take the computer module from one of the soldiers helmets. It's a form of scouter like Vegeta and the other Sayjins had when they first came to Earth, and like those scouters they are linked together in a tactical network."

A Blue dot appeared and then three large red dots also blinked to life. "The blue dot is us," Bulma continued pointing towards the map "an if Piccolo can confirm it I would say this is the base he found."

Piccolo stepped forward and studied the map before nodding his head in the blue haired woman's direction.

Bulma smiled and then tapped another button on the pad. The map zoomed out to an orbital view, startling the members of the past again with the quick movement of the future technology and another red dot showed up orbiting the Earth.

"And here is our fourth ship, According to the data received by our stolen scouter These four dots all match the specifications of the Kremon's space ships."

Krillian groaned running a hand down his face "Fascinating as all this is that means we have what, a little over one thousand troops to contend with?"

"Correct." Vegeta said, taking control of the conversation again. "And since the Namek only saw a third of that number we have to assume they have multiple camps. Bulma does their network list anymore areas of interest?"

Bulma raised her hand and waved it back and forth in a sort of gesture.

"That's the bad thing," She depressed another button on her tablet throwing up five more dots of smaller size. "These appear to be forward outposts, I am sure there are more however the other side has more brains then the opposition we usually deal with. They scrambled their network security protocols very early this morning. We no longer have an eye inside their camp."

"Can't be helped. well go with what we have an adapt from there." Piccolo spoke turning toward Vegeta "What do you suggest, hit an fades? whittle the enemy down or a full on assault?"

Vegeta glanced at the map again and nodded. "With the numbers on their side, hit an fades will work for now. with the six of us..."

"What?!" the cry went up from the back of the room, from Bra who still didn't like the idea of her support role, and the group from the past.

Vegeta sent a glare towards his daughter and it quelled the outburst from that front and then turned it on the group. his face a stone mask but on the inside he was impressed at how the five member of this past group stared right back.

"This is our home, and we appreciate the help, but we will be included in its defense one way or another." Miroku spoke first summing up the groups thoughts.

"Hell ya I owe those bastards." Inuyasha said Sango, Kagome and Shippo nodded in agreement.

Bulma walked over to her husband with her back to the group and said softly "They are right, this is their home and five more fighters will help, although going against a thousand soldiers no matter how weak will be taxing, even for you. we still don't know if they have any power houses." she stared up into Vegeta's face as he continued to glare down the group.

His lip tipped into a smirk and he glanced at Bulma before looking back "You want to fight? Good I thought maybe your spirits might have been broken. I will accept your help in this war, but you will follow my orders."

The group looked at each other nodding in agreement, a little more forcibly towards Inuyasha, who didn't like being ordered around, before they gave their agreement.

Vegeta let the smirk fall off his face before turning to the last member not in their group.

"And what of you, Lord Sesshomaru, that is what that little lizard called you isn't it? I wonder, is that title self appointed or is there some backing to it?"

The Western lord's eyes frosted over as he took a step forward toward Vegeta, murderous intent filling the room

"Disrespect the title again and I will show you this Sesshomaru's true power outlander."

Vegeta started to grin as he felt the demons energy, almost forgetting to mask his power in response.

"Good, how many subjects do you have?"

The question drained the demons malice as confusion set in and an eyebrow rose in query.

Vegeta words were for the demon lord but he turned his body to address the rest of the room.

"As the woman so causally pointed out even with all of your help and if I decided to let my daughter move out of her support role, we would be thirteen against a thousand. So I ask again, How many subjects? Does this land have any kind of fighting force to repel invaders?"

"This Sesshomaru has all the power he needs to defend these lands." the demon lord responded "However there have been situations where the Western Lord has rallied the lands demons to a cause, the last being an invasion let by the cat demons from the east. Maybe half a thousand or more depending on which clans responds."

Vegeta nodded "then this is what I propose and alliance between our three groups. While we here perform hit and run tactics to soften the enemy. To destroy resources and man power where we can, I ask that you go forth and rally a responding army. From what the brat here tells me while demon power may not be as strong as ours, it is certainly formidable in its differences. More than enough to handle the regular troops."

Sesshomaru's eyes narrowed in thought. Tactically it was a sound plan, however he hated the thought of taking orders from anyone. At this point in time however he would allow it, if nothing more to rid of this enemy from another land.

"Agreed." and with that final word The lord of the west turned and walked out of the room

"Not a big talker, that one." Krillian spoke up from the couch.

With the tension of the room and the events of the last few days Kagome couldn't help it. The chuckle started and escaped from her mouth before she knew it and turned into full blown laughter. Inuyasha looked at her strangely and the rest looked on in amusement.

"Finally someone gets me." Krillian said earning a light smack from his wife. the rest of the group let the young woman's amusement sweep over them for a moment before Vegeta cleared his throat, bringing back order to the room and he spoke.

"Sesshomaru has gone to do his part of the plan, Now let's start holding up our end."


End file.
